


I Am Who I Am

by CytherVapora



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Age Difference, Angst, Anxiety Attacks, Awesome Shuri (Marvel), F/F, F/M, Felicia is a college student, Fluff, Gen, Gender Dysphoria, Healing, Irondad, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Not Spider-Man: Far From Home Compliant, Other, Peter Parker Can Wield Mjolnir, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Wanda Maximoff, SET AFTER HOMECOMING, Trans Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:01:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22092238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CytherVapora/pseuds/CytherVapora
Summary: Peter gets hurt one night real bad which leads to the Avengers finding out about a secret he had been planning on keeping for a very long time. He hurts, he heals and maybe falls in love along the way.
Relationships: Felicia Hardy/Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Wanda Maximoff & Peter Parker, Wanda Maximoff/Natasha Romanov
Comments: 9
Kudos: 313





	1. And it’s out

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first shot at writing a marvel fic
> 
> I am a total IronDad and SpiderKid fan because they are the perfect father/son duo and I hate that Endgame decided to ruin that for me for all future films. 
> 
> All mistakes are my own, I do not beta my work so good luck

Peter had been hanging out with the Avengers ever since the whole Tony and Steve feud was over and done with. The two men were still wary and on edge with each other but they had found a compromise. That being Peter Parker himself. 

Tony, ever since hiring him as an official intern/side kick, has been fathering him for the past few months. May being busy, had asked Tony if he could look after the kid for a day or two. Those couple of days would turn into long but consistent weekends and that meant Tony had a whole floor redecorated and repurposed to be Spider-Man’s apartment. 

Steve, on the other hand, was more like a mother-figure. He would often go out of his way to wake up earlier than Peter, letting himself into the teen’s apartment floor with the help of FRIDAY and cooking him a delicious but nutritious breakfast before Peter was driven to school by Happy or one of the other Avengers. He would sit down with him and talk about things that Peter wasn’t ready to share with Tony. 

The two grown men found balance with Peter. 

…..

‘’Hey, Nat.’’ Peter called. He was laying upside down on the couch in the shared living room they all had. ‘’Do you think pink would look good on me? I mean the spider suit.’’ 

Natasha rounded the kitchen island and sat next to the hyperactive kid. ‘’Well, мой маленький паук, depends how much pink you want to splash on.’’ 

Peter swung himself so that his head could rest on Natasha’s lap, her hands automatically started running through his brown locks. He looked up at her and grinned. 

‘’I was thinking of patrolling with a pink suit, for ya’know, breast cancer day. Show my support and all that.’’ 

The spy laughed and flicked his nose. ‘’If you want. Just don’t come crying to me if anyone makes fun of you for it. I can tell you right now Sam would have a field trip with that one.’’ 

Peter huffed and grinned when he heard the familiar sound of footsteps coming in from the elevator. ‘’Wanda! Tell Nat that pink would look awesome on me!’’

Wanda sat herself down on the arm of the couch next to Natasha, ‘’Do you want me to lie?’’ Her heavy accent present. She used her American accent when she was on missions, allowing her to relax and be herself in the comfort of her own home. ‘’Почему розовый?’’ The three (including Bucky) had been speaking in Russian regularly to mostly piss off the other members but also because it made them feel closer. 

‘’Человек не может носить розовое?’’ He rolled his eyes and changed the subject before they could tease him again. ‘’Wheres Bucky? He promised me we could all play monopoly tonight.’’

‘’Hes on a mission right now with Cap, he should be back this afternoon. Why, bored of us already?’’ Nat asked, she didn’t wait for his answer and tickled him, Wanda holding his arms and legs down with her powers. 

‘’N-no! I-I l-Love you g-guys!’’ He stuttered between his spurts of laughter, Natasha stopped and resumed carding through his hair. ‘’School has been stressful, I just want a stress-free night, that's all.’’ His eyes closed at the soothing feeling of fingers drawing patterns on his scalp.

Wanda’s eyebrows furrowed as she made eye contact with her girlfriend. ‘’Why has it been stressful? Has someone been giving you trouble?’’

Peter stayed silent and the two women knew something was up but decided against pushing for details. They knew how emotions creeped up on the kid and the last thing they wanted was Peter spiralling into somewhere dark again. During the first time, it took a whole 3 hours to get Peter to calm down and Wanda had walked away with a black eye, which Peter bought a whole bunch of her favourite chocolates with his pocket money for a whole month to make it up to her. 

….

‘’So, you haven’t told them about it yet?’’ Ned was munching on an apple, on his bed as he watched his best friend/Spiderman, pace around his room for the past 15 minutes. 

‘’N-no! I can’t tell them I’m getting bullied! T-they’ll destroy Flash and his friends!’’ Peter grabbed his head, clenching his hair between his fingers. 

Ned shrugged and threw his apple core towards the bin and missed, Peter picked it up and finished the job unconsciously. ‘’Dude, I would so want the Avengers to scare my bully away. And I meant about the other thing’’

Peter sighed and plopped himself next to Ned. ‘’The last thing I want is drawing attention to myself. Its just a few bruises and they’ll probably stop once highschool is over. And I know, I’ll tell them eventually, they’ll find out one way or another.’’ He tried convincing himself. 

‘’Peter, you said that in middle school and hes still at it. This time with more friends. You’re freakin’ SpiderMan and you won’t even use those powers to defend yourself!’’

‘’Thats the point!’’ Peter yelled but quickly covered his mouth when Ned’s mother shouted from downstairs if there was a problem, which they responded with a loud but clear ‘no’. ‘’I couldn’t defend myself back then, so I shouldn’t now. It’ll only make me look suspicious.’’

Ned shook his head, still confused why his best man was willing to get beat up almost every day at school. ‘’It hurts to see you get hit like that, think about how much more they’re willing to do if MJ and I weren’t there.’’

Peter rubbed the space between his eyebrows and concentrated on breathing and not the constant ringing deep in his ears. It always starts when he thinks too hard. 

‘’I know, Ned. I know.’’ 

The highschooler could tell his friend was going through something and pulled out a box from beneath his bed, placing it on his lap. 

‘’Well, wanna build a Lego Death Star to keep your mind off some things?’’ Peter perked up and grinned, throwing his arms around his best friend. 

‘’Hell yeah!’’

……

Wanda swirled her fingers in a figure of 8, lifting and spinning a rubix cube up in the air as she laid on her bed. Her mind was elsewhere and she didn’t even notice when the red-headed super spy laid next to her. 

‘’Penny for your thoughts?’’

Wanda gently placed the colourful cube back onto her desk. 

‘’Just Peter.’’ The taller woman bit the inside of her cheek as she raked her brain for any clues to why Peter was being so twitchy as of late. In fact, all of the Avengers had experience an awkward moment with the spiderling when he was staying over last few weekends. 

Clint, when he had tried to coax the younger boy into sparring with him but Peter stuttering away at excuses about non-existent homework that he needed doing. Sam when he wanted to take him to a well known and favourite sauna nearby. Tony when he wanted to do a full body check up on the kid and Wanda when she questioned him about school. 

Peter was hiding something. 

She felt Natasha grab her chin to make her face her. ‘’Babe, he’ll tell us when hes ready.’’ 

Wanda shook her head and took the hand from her chin, interlacing their fingers. ‘’He’ll never tell us.’’ 

‘’And how would you know that?’’

‘’Because I can’t see through that mist in his brain. Peter is usually an open book, he has his heart out on the palm of his hands but lately hes been hiding behind a brick wall and it makes me nervous.’’ The young witch furrowed her eyebrows and started thinking about the possibilities again. 

‘’I get why you’re worried, I am too. But наш маленький паук is growing up and maybe those secrets are valid.’’ The spy moved her head so she could place it on Wanda’s chest, listening to the rhythmic heartbeats. ‘’If hes still like this by next week, we’ll find out our own way, okay?’’

Wanda kissed the older woman’s head and closed her eyes, trying not to worry about her younger brother figure. Ever since Pietro’s passing, Peter had been something that had filled the gaping hole in her heart. Natasha was also a help but Wanda had craved something more familiar rather than romantic. The young teen had kept the witch grounded and since the moment Peter let her scour through his brain for a sense of acceptance, she had been attached to him, loving him like he was her own little brother. 

‘’We have a couple of hours before we deploy for a mission.’’ Natasha said out loud. She felt her lover tense under her and the arm around her shoulders pulled her closer. ‘’I think we could make great use of this time.’’ Her voice going impossibly huskier and that did the trick because one second she was relaxing on top of Wanda, the next she was under the younger woman, her clothes getting pulled away urgently. 

‘’Don’t blame me if we’re late.’’ Wanda says in between their kisses.

‘’We’ll blame Clint. Hes our fall guy.’’ Natasha chuckled, wrapping her legs around Wanda’s small waist. 

……….

Peter zoned out during physics, he was already 3 years worth of content ahead of everyone else but Tony had forced him to tone it down. His teacher knew of this and let him doodle or do his own thing in class.

He looked down and saw the drawing he had been mindlessly working on. It was a new SpiderMan suit, instead of the usual design, he had drawn a solid block, armour almost. It was red and had gold trimmings for his iconic spider print on the back and front. He thought back to IronMan’s suit and recognised a link with the colour scheme. He did idolise Tony Stark. 

Ned saw his new suit and nudged his side. ‘’Woah, that looks awesome! Are you going to build it?’’ 

Peter pursed his lips, he did like the design, especially the 8 spider legs that stuck out on the back but he had no idea where he would even get the materials for such a build yet alone how he would go about making it work. 

‘’I dunno, maybe. I’ll ask Mr Stark if hes willing to help me tonight.’’

‘’I still can’t believe you get to hang out with Tony Stark, its like my dream job!’’ Ned unfortunately spoke a little too loudly and Flash Tompson, who was sitting behind them, overheard. 

‘’Hey Penis Parker, you know no one believes you work for a billionaire except your poor excuse of friends right? Its actually sad how much you’re attention seeking.’’ Flash snickered and high fived his buddy next to him. 

Ned was about to retort with something but Peter held his arm and shook his head. ‘’Its not worth it.’’ 

‘’Hey Penis.’’ Flash started again, this time raising his voice to get the attention of the class. Mr Harrington had just stepped out to talk to another member of staff and that meant Flash could talk shit all he wanted. 

‘’Go away Flash.’’ Peter gritted through his teeth, he was worried if he clenched any harder, he would break them. 

‘’Why don’t you act like a real man?! Come meet me after school and I’ll show you what a real man can do. Lets fight like real men. Oh thats right-, you’re just a girl pretending to be a boy.’’ Flash cooed sarcastically. ‘’Sorry Penis, I mean- Pussy. Thats what you have right?’’ He laughed evilly, loving the way Peter’s face morphed into something so painful. 

Ned couldn’t take it anymore when he saw Peter crying silently beside him. ‘’Flash-’’ But someone else beat him to it. 

‘’Flash, are you that insecure you have to talk down someone who is obviously smarter than you? Is it because you don’t have facial hair or everyone has seen your tiny dick pics you sent Betty last month? Peter is more of a man you’ll ever be.’’ MJ glared at the bully who hurt her friend. ‘’Well?’’

Flash cupped his chin self-consciously and looked down at his crotch. ‘’S-shut up, you’re just a stupid girl-’’

MJ chuckled and cupped her mouth. ‘’Flash has a tiny dick! Flash has a tiny dick! Flash has a tiny dick!’’ She chanted and almost everyone in the classroom, par Peter and Flash’s friends, joined in. Flash turned beet red and kept his head down.

‘’What the hell is going on here?! Everyone quiet down and do your work!’’ Mr Harrington yelled and everyone did as they were told. 

Flash began plotting in his mind the many horrible things he would do Peter and whispered to his friend how they could get back at the nerd. 

‘Hes going to pay.’ Flash thought. He couldn’t do anything to MJ since she was a girl and would get him in trouble, no doubt but he knew Peter was a coward, a ‘girl pretending to be a boy’ so he wouldn’t feel too bad hitting him. Peter would never tell on him, he never did. 

…….

Peter winced as he walked out of the school through the gates with his only friends. Ned had to go home early and couldn’t hang out like they usually did on Tuesday nights and MJ promised her mother she would babysit her younger siblings. Peter didn’t mind though, after playing soccer in PE with a tight binder on, all he wanted was a chill night in with his Aunt May and maybe work on a more complex sketch of his new suit. 

‘’See ya, don’t do anything stupid.’’ Ned waved goodbye and gave a very pointed look at his friend. 

‘’Yeah, just text us if you wanna talk.’’ MJ said before she got into her mother’s car. 

Peter weakly waved back and started walking home. He grabbed the span of his ribs, he was sure they were bruised from when Flash ‘bumped’ into him during soccer. He tried not to think about the transphobic insults Flash and his friends kept whispering during their classes together. He tried thinking about the warm bed he would get to lay in and Aunt May’s questionable cooking skills. 

He was walking through an alleyway, he thought he would take the short cut this time to shorten the pain of walking and being in his binder for more than he should. 

But then the feeling of the hairs on the back of his neck popped up. He wanted to stop walking, he wanted to just web away and avoid it but he knew he couldn’t. He didn’t have his suit, he didn’t have his web shooters on him and he didn’t have a mask. Peter knew exactly who was about to hit him and he couldn’t do anything about it. 

A hard plank of wood hit Peter’s head, causing him to stumble and crash against the wall on his sore side. The wood kept hitting him before he could even focus his eyes on Flash who was beating him until he was curled up on the cold concrete floor. 

Pete coughed when Flash’s friends joined in on the fun, they kicked him everywhere, throwing heavy objects onto his body. Flash threw the wooden plank away and pulled out a metal iron bar he had found on the way, stalking Parker since school ended. He had no mercy, laughing out loud as he smacked the nerd with the metal pole. On his arms, his legs, his ribs, his head. One heavy hit onto the head and Peter felt blood dripping down his face, he couldn’t open his right eye as a foot had caught it. 

Flash grew bored when Peter stopped squirming. He threw the pole down onto the unmoving figure and whistled for his boys to leave. Flash kicked Peter one more time, spitting onto his bloody clothes. 

‘’Tell MJ if she pulls that shit again, she’ll be the one getting it next time.’’ 

They left. 

Peter coughed up huge blood clots that had formed in his throat when he sat up. He squinted through his only working eye and felt for his bag, his broken and bruised hands felt for the phone at the bottom of the bag and he fumbled with unlocking it. 

‘’Shit.’’ He cursed. He could barely see the screen properly. Instead he used Karen who was recently integrated onto his phone. ‘’Karen, call Mr Stark.’’ 

A few moments later, the calling stopped and Tony picked up with his usual cheerful voice. ‘’Hey kiddo, I built bruce a hulk armour but he says it was a waste of time since Hulk doesn’t like clothing but I really want to see- Hey, you there?’’

Peter coughed again, tried wiping the blood that was clouding his vision. ‘’M-Mr Stark? C-can you pick me up? I’m in the alley next to my apartment.’’ 

‘’Sure… Why? Whats up?’’ Peter could hear the distinct sound of Tony’s armour being formed around him. 

‘’Just don’t tell Natasha or Wanda.’’ Then Peter hung up. He dragged himself up, so he could lean against the brick wall behind him. He felt himself blacking out but managed to stay awake until he could hear IronMan’s thrusters nearby. He had no idea Flash had brought a weapon with him, he was used to getting kicked and punched but getting hit by a metal pole was something new and not even his healing factor could numb the pain.

‘’Peter!’’ He heard Tony shout his name several times, worry evident. ‘’Kid! Jesus Christ what the fuck happened?!’’ He felt Tony lift him up and felt the wind blowing onto his injuries, strangely soothing considering how much damage was dealt to him. 

When he opened his eyes, or rather, one eye again. He was in the Avengers’ facility. He vaguely recognised the room as one of the many emergency medical rooms Bruce had installed recently. It was night time and he could hear the muffled sounds of his Aunt outside, along with Wanda who was trying to calm her down. 

He looked down and saw that he was only wearing shorts, most of his body was covered in bandages and bandaids. The rest of his exposed skin was purple and pale. He lifted his hand to feel around his head, he gasped in pain when he felt his forehead which was bandaged up too. His fingers were stained red because the blood was seeping through. His chest was his biggest problem, obviously someone had done his surgery which meant they now knew his biological sex. His brain spiralled but he caught himself, unwilling to potentially hurt someone again. He ignored the lumps on his chest even though it was wrapped up.

‘’Ow.’’ His whole body felt like it was on fire, itchy and cold. ‘’FRIDAY?’’ He called out softly. 

‘’Yes, Peter?’’ The AI voice was low, knowing that the teen had just woken up. 

‘’C-can you tell them I’m awake now?’’

‘’Already on it, please refrain from moving too much Peter, you had some internal bleeding and several injuries to the head and chest.’’ FRIDAY’S voice could be heard outside and the door slammed open, Aunt May rushing to Peter’s side. The rest of the Avengers filtered through, their expressions were grim and sad.

‘’Oh honey! Oh I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you!’’ His aunt cried and tried not touching his body, scared she’ll only cause more pain for him. ‘’Who did this to you? Don’t lie to me! This is serious, don’t think I haven’t noticed bruises that weren’t from your patrols!’’

Peter focused on the ceiling and not the amount of people who were filling up the room slowly, he saw Natasha from the corner of his eye, her eyes hard and asking the same question his aunt was. 

‘’I don’t want to press charges.’’ He said. His throat was constricting, his eyes quickly filling up with tears. 

‘’You don’t have to because we will. I know who did it kid. You forget who you’re friends with.’’ Tony uncrossed his arms and moved to stand next to the bed. ‘’Eugene Tompson and his asshole friends will sit in juvie until their asses rot. We have all the evidence we need on the security cameras.’’

‘’Or maybe I should just torture them.’’ Natasha muttered but Peter’s sensitive ears picked it up. 

‘’M-Mr Stark, its fine, they-’’

‘’Its not fine!’’ The older man snapped. It shocked most of the people in the room, including Peter himself. ‘’You almost died because of those assholes and you think its fine?! This isn’t just about your secret identity anymore! Why didn’t you pick yourself up and run?!’’

The room was silent. Peter could hear himself whimper and the constant beeping from his heart monitor pick up. He took a minute to swallow, desperate to soothe the pain in his throat. 

‘’I-I…. I felt like I deserved it.’’ Peter whispered.

The avengers sensed that Peter was about to confess something and felt like they should leave. Clint gathered everyone up and pushed them through the door, of course, Bucky didn’t agree but saw that Peter was breaking down and left. Only Peter, Tony, May, Wanda and Natasha was left in the room.

Wanda walked over to hold Natasha in her arms, the older woman was shaking with anger. 

‘’Why do you think you deserve this treatment?’’ Tony asked. 

Peter took a moment to handle the pain that shot up his back. His aunt help him by adjusting the pillows behind him so he could sit up a little. He looked down at his hands, sadly, they were dirty and still had specks of his own blood on top. 

‘’Because I failed. I-I failed and that I don’t deserve these powers, I’m not fit for them.’’ He fisted the thin white sheets covering his legs. ‘’I hate that they’re right, that I'm good for nothing a-and that I’m pretending to be who I’m not.’’

He heard his aunt sniffle and she placed her hand over his. ‘’Peter…’’

Tony sighed and pulled up a chair so he could sit down. ‘’Look, kid. You know why I approached you out of anyone else when that shit went down with the accords?’’

Peter shook his head and finally lifted his eyes to meet his mentor. 

‘’Because I saw a good heart in you. I saw a kid with love and passion for the good he did on the streets, no matter how little the deed was. Helping a grandma cross the street, returning a stolen bike or even helping the Avengers in a civil war. You.’’ Tony touched Peter’s upper chest where there wasn’t any bruising. ‘’You, have everyone’s interest in mind, no matter how fucked up we all are.’’

Tony didn’t allow him to disagree. ‘’Peter, you managed to crawl your way into all of our hearts. Even Red-head over there who is known for being an ice queen.’’ 

‘’Hey.’’ Said Red-head glared at the billionaire but smiled when Peter looked over at her, assuring him that she didn’t take offence. ‘’Hes right, ya’know?’’

‘’You managed to pick me back up after I dug myself into that depressing hole.’’ Wanda added. ‘’You really helped me believe that I had more family besides my blood brother.’’ 

Peter still didn’t say anything but he was glad he had such supportive friends. 

‘’Pete.’’ Tony licked his lips and cleared his throat. ‘’I didn’t want to say anything until you was ready and well, I knew you were trans the moment I accepted you into the internship… we do a thorough background check on all our employees, including the Avengers, granted Thor is a God and we mostly used myths for research but you get the point.’’

‘’So you knew this whole time ... and was okay with it?’’

Tony narrowed his eyes, ‘’Why wouldn’t I be okay with it? Is this why the assholes went after you?’’

Peter nodded and also explained what had happened earlier that day which made Natasha angerier and had to be dragged out by an apologetic Wanda who promised to come back. He flinched when he heard a flower vase get smashed outside and russian curse words being shouted. 

‘’Pete…’’ Tony trailed off and took off his glasses, bringing Peter’s attention back on to him. ‘’We would never, ever, no be okay with you for something like this. For being who you are. What that kid did to you was unforgivable, he almost-’’ He swallowed a huge lump in his throat, looking away so the kid didn’t see the tears forming. ‘’He almost killed you.’’

Peter kept his head down but nodded. 

‘’I know, we haven’t known each other for that long but I would like to think that we’ve got something going on. You’re like a son to me, Peter.’’ The kid perked his head up at that and gaped at the richest man he knows. ‘’I mean it.’’

The door opened and Natasha with a solemn face came through, she made eye contact with Tony and silently agreed on something. Tony stood up and the spy took his place, Tony asked May to go have a chat outside but the woman knew better. 

‘’We’ll be outside if you need us.’’ Tony shut the door gently behind them, leaving Natasha and Peter to sit quietly.

‘’Peter.’’ She licked her lips and reached out to hold one of his hands in hers. ‘’I know how hard this is for you. I know that I will never relate to it completely, but I know what it feels like to be out of place within your own body.’’ She didn’t wait for him to respond. 

‘’When I was still undercover for SHIELD, I had so many aliases and identities, I didn’t know who I really was anymore. I went into a very, very dark place. I was desperate to get some part of me back, under all those faces I put on. And it wasn’t until I met Wanda, when I finally found something of myself. Because it wasn’t Grace, or Chloe or whoever I pretended to be. It was me. It was Natasha Romanoff who fell for Wanda. It took me over 15 years to finally find who I was under all that facade. And did you know how I did it?’’

She squeezed Peter’s hand. 

‘’I had help. I relied on people. I learnt that relying on people was not a sign of weakness and it was something to value because a lot of people in the world don’t have anyone to rely on.’’

‘’I’m s-sorry.’’ Peter sniffled, his voice getting croakier by the second. ‘’I-I thought that I shouldn’t burden anyone since its all my fault-’’

‘’Its not your fault for trying to be comfortable in your own skin. Its your body and you decide what you get to do with it.’’ She said sternly, her green eyes turned steely. ‘’That asshole who did this to you will pay.’’

‘’You don’t think this is weird?’’ Peter asked, he wiped his tears with the side of his hand, careful not to jolst the IV implanted in there.

‘’Of course not.’’

‘’Oh- ok.’’

Natasha rolled her eyes at the kid and patted his hand. ‘’We’ll get through this together. Tony, Wanda, Steve, all of us will help you. We’re gonna help you transition, we’re gonna help you become a better Spiderman, okay?’’

‘’Okay.’’ Peter smiled for the first time that night. 

‘’You should probably apologise to your aunt though. She was worried sick.’’ She looked at his pointedly. 

Peter agreed, it was never his intention to hurt May like that but he realised how selfish hes been by not telling the people around him about his struggles. She had lost Ben and her in-laws. He was her only family left and she almost lost him too.

‘’I will. I’ve been stupid, haven’t I?’’

Natasha didn’t answer, instead she stood up to kiss his forehead. 

Wanda, Tony and his aunt came in at that time. His aunt’s eyes were bloodshot from crying too hard but she still managed to smile for him. Peter felt his heart crumble at the sight He really messed up. Tony was shaken, as was Wanda but they both knew how to stay calm as to not freak Peter or his aunt out anymore. 

‘’Get some rest kid, we’ll talk some more in the morning. Bruce said your healing factor will speed up your recovery but that doesn’t mean you can just go for a walk any time soon.’’ Tony kissed his head much like Natasha did and left with a small smile. 

‘’We’ll see you in the morning, мы любим тебя, маленький паук.’’ Wanda held hands with Natasha and was gone too. 

‘’You have beautiful women protecting you Peter.’’ May commented. Peter blushed and coughed, getting rid of all the tension that was building up there. ‘’I want to be mad at you but I can’t.’’ She confessed, she sighed and pursed her lips, regarding her nephew carefully. 

‘’I’m sorry May, I didn’t mean to scare you like that.’’ Guilt was basically coursing through his veins at this point. 

‘’Just promise me, you’ll run if it ever happens again. I know you’re Spiderman and I know that you can take care of yourself.’’ May held out her pinkie finger and Peter linked it with his own, their thumbs moving to meet in the middle. 

‘’I promise.’’


	2. Temptations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha can't hold herself back and reverts to her old ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this story is about to get a little darker so be warned. 
> 
> My Russian is supplied from google translate so forgive me if it doesn't make sense to anyone who actually knows Russian. 
> 
> My work is not Beta-ed, bare with me

Peter moved his eyes under his eyelids, trying to get away from the light that wasn’t even glaring into his naked eyes. He smelt the familiar odor of disinfectant and several colognes and perfumes that belonged to the Avengers. However, beeping from his heart monitor was starting to get on his nerves and he finally opened his eyes to face the music. 

Right away, the dotted ceiling of the Avengers medical bay greeted him, he had been here a couple of times before and he hated it every time. He carefully turned his head to the left, seeing a Tony Stark laying down on the couch with one of his arms slung over his face, soft snores erupting from his mouth. Peter thought it would’ve been the perfect moment to snap a pic but he couldn’t move with all the wires connected to him. 

Then to his immediate left, he saw Ned, half awake, reading a book on the physics behind Pym particles. Peter coughed to get his attention. 

‘’O-Oh!’’ Ned almost dropped his book when he was startled awake. ‘’Hey, Peter.’’ He smiled and put his book down, leaning over to grab a water bottle with a straw, putting it close so Peter could sip on it. ‘’You got a lot of explaining to do.’’ 

Peter shuffled himself up on the bed so he could sit up straight, he never liked laying down. ‘’Sorry, I know.’’ Peter bit his lip. 

‘’I guess the cats out of the bag now, huh?’’

Peter nodded and tried not to focus on how the only thing covering his chest was a bunch of bandages. All he wanted was to feel the comfort of his binder compressing and hiding his most feminine features. He knew Ned didn’t care but it still felt wrong to him.

‘’When did you get here?’’ 

Ned threw a thumb over at the sleeping billionaire. ‘’Mr Stark called me in the morning and I rushed over as soon as possible. MJ was here before me but she said not to wake you up since you look like, and I quote, ‘has two black eyes on top of two black eyes’.’’ 

Peter smiled at that and tried not to scratch the obviously itchy arm he got, the sticky adhesives from the ECG. 

The door clicked open and Dr Cho came in with a clipboard. ‘’Hello, Peter, I thought we agreed that the next time we met, wouldn’t be here.’’ She scribbled something on her notes. 

‘’Sorry Dr Cho, maybe next time.’’ Peter sheepishly grinned. 

‘’You’ll be fine in a couple of days, most of your injuries are the broken ribs and several lacerations on your head and face.’’ She clicked her tongue and replaced the IV bag on the hanger, making sure everything is functional. ‘’You’ll be released then but you won’t be allowed to do any strenuous activities.’’

‘’Yes, Dr Cho.’’ 

‘’Ned, make sure he doesn’t okay?’’

Ned saluted her seriously and she laughed quietly, leaving the room promptly. 

‘’So, what do you wanna do?’’ Peter looked at Ned expectantly. ‘’Aside from talking about what happened because I think I spilled my guts out last night.’’ 

Ned dragged the hospital bedside table across Peter lap and placed a box he got from under his chair. ‘’Well, lucky for you, Mr Stark was kind enough to buy us-’’

Peter gasped and moved to quickly, almost tearing the stitches on his right side when he saw the box. ‘’The Millennium Falcon!’’ He whispered/yelled. 

They spent the entire morning building the spaceship, which was harder than they thought since all they had was the tiny table but they made it work. 

……………

Peter was staring outside the window, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. Ned had left shortly after 12 because his mom found out about him skipping school and not even Tony wanted to face the wrath of a short but stern Fhilipino mother. Then Tony had to leave after a quick talk about self-preservation but told him that the rest of the Avengers had been called out to an emergency meeting all the way up in Canada. Something about a break out in a facility. 

Peter wished he wasn’t bed ridden so he could join them but he knew it was his own fault. It seemed like everything was his fault. 

‘If only I wasn’t so picky about my body, I would’ve been happier.’ He thought. ‘Then I wouldn’t have Flash and his friends breathing down my neck.’

He and Flash had never been on good terms, even before his transition, Flash was always out to get him. Flash had an unhealthy obsession with making Peter’s life hell and Peter could never figure out why. He had never gone out of his way to aggravate the bully, nor did he remember doing anything that might’ve set him off. Peter was certain that Flash was just a bully by blood. 

He knew he was bored out of his mind. Staring out the window did little to cure that boredom and without anyone to talk to, it was even worse. Feeling better, Dr Cho had allowed him to walk around the room, still attached to the drip. He took little steps, careful not to tangle his limbs with the multiple wires. 

‘’Hello.’’ 

Peter jumped a little, not expecting someone in his room. Vision phased through the wall and smiled at him. 

‘’H-hey, I thought you went with the others.’’ 

Vision shook his head and crossed his arms. ‘’I’m afraid I have bad news, Mr Parker.’’ 

‘’Just Peter is fine, we’ve been through this.’’ 

‘’As you wish.’’ Vision’s mechanical smile faltered as he took in the dark splotches of bruising across Peter’s body. ‘’Mr Stark has informed me that he has been tracking down your attackers.’’ 

‘’Oh.’’ Peter furrowed his eyebrows and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. ‘’And… what happened?’’

‘’All of them have been arrested and are currently awaiting trial. Mr Stark has submitted enough evidence that has shown clear faces of your attackers.’’ Vision paused, letting the younger teen to take it all in. 

‘’T-they’re going to jail?’’ Peter asked hesitantly. He never wanted to put his own classmates in jail. 

‘’Yes. However, Mr Stark ran into one problem. Flash, otherwise known as, Eugene Thompson, has managed to ‘snake’ his way out of the accusation.’’ Vision’s eyes darkened. ‘’Mr Stark said that Flash’s lawyers are incredibly good and was on par with Mr Stark’s. He hasn’t been able to do anything.’’

Peter sighed and fiddled with the IV drip attached to his arm. 

‘’Mr Stark said he will not rest until Flash is arrested for what he has done to you.’’ Vision concluded, as he was still getting used to human emotions, he left the same way he came in, knowing the spiderling would want some space. 

Peter buried his face in his hands, tears dripping like a leaking faucet. ‘’Fuck.’’ He cussed quietly. He felt so conflicted at that moment. Not knowing whether to be happy or sad. Happy that most of his bullies will no longer bother him but sad because he had ruined their lives by being himself. 

‘’Shit.’’ He bit his lower lip hard enough to draw blood, normally he hated the taste of iron in his mouth but he felt like he deserved it, for fucking up his classmate’s lives. 

He then spent the remainder of his day, self-wallowing in deprecating thoughts. 

……………

Tony flinched when another wrench hit the wall of his workshop. It bounced off and barely missed his head with it’s trajectory. He had his hands clasped tightly against his pursed lips, not really caring about the woman who was making a mess of his workplace. 

‘’Чертов ублюдок! That bitch will fucking pay for what he did!’’ Natasha yelled as she threw another random object near her, it went flying out the now broken glass window. ‘’Who does he think he is?!’’

Wanda caught the object her girlfriend threw midair before it could drop to the streets below and brought it back in safely. ‘’Nat…’’

‘’That son of a bitch will fucking learn his lesson the hard way then. I’ll make sure he never lays a hand on Peter again.’’ The Red-head breathed heavily through her nose, hands clenched on the table before her. 

Wanda couldn’t bring herself to disagree with Natasha, she was mad at Flash too. She was aching to go guns blazing into his house, tear him from limb to limb. But she knew better, having gone down a path of revenge, she knew all about the regret and consequences that came crashing after. 

‘’Nat… we can’t. You know that.’’ She said quietly. 

Natasha’s eyes snapped to hers. ‘’Wanda if you don’t want to help me, you can sit out. But that stupid piece of shit is paying.’’ 

The mutant lowered her head and stared at the floor, she knew she couldn’t just change the Black Widow’s mind like that. She was her own woman, just as Wanda was her own. They agreed on that when they first entered their relationship.

Tony had stayed silent the whole time. Thinking up ways he could trump Flash’s ridiculously good lawyers. It pissed him off that even his rich ass couldn’t make Peter’s life better and he honestly didn’t care that his teammate was going to beat a child up.

‘Peter is all that matters.’ He thought to himself.

…………

Natasha dressed himself in a casual but baggy black hoodie, hiding her distinct red hair and disguising her figure. Her jaw clenched as she watched from behind a nearby wall, how Flash was happily laughing with his older buddies outside of school. They handed him a bottle of alcohol and he gulped from it, cheering when he was done.

‘Hes out here having the time of his life while my little spider is stuck in bed, in pain.’ She thought bitterly. She gripped the taser in her hand tighter.

She waited for his friends to leave, Flash walking, more like stumbling his way back home. She moved with him, sure to keep out of sight and out of way of the people. She waited until the perfect moment to wrap her strong arms around his neck, choking him into unconsciousness before he could even yell for help.

She was glad that he was relatively her size or dragging him to an empty warehouse would’ve been a lot harder.

Natasha found the perfect spot, empty, under construction and had a convenient creaky wooden chair to tie the bastard on. She waited until he woke up, groaning and mumbling to himself. Until he realised where he was and what situation he was in. That was when she stepped out of the shadows, letting her hood fall.

‘’What the fuck?!’’ Flash looked at her, confused for a second until he recognised her from the many posters hanging up in his room. ‘’B-black Widow?!’’ He tugged at his restraints and to no avail.

Natasha glared at the teen, grabbing the taser out and flipping it up in the air to play catch casually.

Flash was starting to sweat and shiver from fear. He hated the look in her eyes. ‘’W-what do you want with me?!’’

She frowned and stopped flipping the device, instead she pointed it at him, he twitches away from it automatically. ‘’Do you know a Peter Parker?’’

‘’W-what?’’

She rolled her eyes and turned on the taser, the voltage all the way to the max and the electricity clashing against each other between the two pins. ‘’Answer the questions, or you’ll get a taste of this.’’

‘’Y-y-yes I know him! Just don’t t-t-tase me!’’ He stammered, he started to cry which the agent scoffed at.

‘’Peter. Is a dear friend of mine, hes like the brother I never had. Hes family.’’ She nodded to herself. ‘’Because of you, hes in bed, in pain and frightened, uncertain of himself and fucking blaming himself for nothing he did wrong.’’ She leaned against the cracked pillar nearby.

Flash tried desperately to get out of the chair but only managed to tip it over on its side, making it harder for him to move. ‘’Urgh! Fuck!’’ He grunted, wiggling his body.

Natasha laughed quietly and put her boot on the side of his face, putting enough pressure to keep his head still. ‘’Who do you think you are?’’ She twisted her foot, mushing his face harder onto the concrete floor.

‘’My lawyers will fucking bury you into the ground!’’ He hissed, his previous affection for the Avenger was now completely gone.

‘’I don’t care. You’ll fucking pay.’’ She kicked his face with the tip of her boot, his nose cracked on impact.

‘’ARGH!’’ He screamed out in pain; blood came spurting out at an alarming rate.

‘’Fuck you.’’ She kicked him again, this time in the stomach, it doubled his pain and his screams got louder. ‘’How fucking dare you.’’ This time she connected the taser to his neck, he convulsed violently, his eyes rolling backwards. Then she stopped and allowed him to catch his breath.

She squatted down to his level, so she could make eye contact. ‘’I don’t exactly have a pretty past. I’ve killed people younger than you for less.’’ She admitted coldly. ‘’Sure, I wasn’t proud of it after I joined the Avengers, ya’know, being a good guy and all that.’’ She rolled her eyes.

‘’P-please. I’ll le-leave him a-alone-‘’ He could barely breath will all the blood clotting in his mouth.

She sighed and shook her head. ‘’That isn’t enough.’’ She reached into her back-jean pocket and pulled out a switch blade. She moved to press the knife against his throat, but a hand shot out to stop her before the metal could touch his skin.

‘’Don’t.’’

‘’What are you doing here?’’

‘’Nat, you promised me you wouldn’t ever do this again.’’ The archer threw her hand away from the boy. ‘’You promised.’’

She gritted her teeth and stood back up, glaring at her best friend. ‘’What? Am I supposed to let this piece of shit run free after what he did?! This isn’t a case of playground insults! He almost killed Peter!’’

Clint held up his hands, nodding along. ‘’I know, I know. But we don’t do this. We don’t kill people. Especially not children.’’

Natasha waved her knife around carelessly. ‘’No! You. Don’t do that. I’ve done it before, I’ll fucking do it again!’’ Her arm swung back to throw the knife at Flash’s jugular but Clint managed to knock her hand away just in time so the knife would go flying away from her intended target. ‘’Dammit Clint!’’

‘’Natasha! Will you wake the fuck up?! You were about to kill a fucking child! You think Peter would forgive you?! Out of all of us, Peter would never forgive you for that, even if it was for him!’’ He shook her shoulders and she cried. She broke down and her knees crumbled down, Clint held her tightly, hand on her head as she wept into his shoulder. She punched his sides weakly, trying to get out of his grasp.

Out of the darkness, Wanda stepped out and took a moment to assess the damage that was done. Flash was long passed out from shock and blood loss; it made her job easier. She slowly reached into his mind with faint red wisps, picking out the memories made this evening and erasing them, replacing them with mundane things. She finished by erasing all violent intent towards Peter, she would make sure the teen would never harm her dear little brother on her own terms.

She turned back to Clint and he nodded, passing Natasha over to her. Natasha wrapped her arms around the taller woman’s neck, apologising over and over until all that was left was gasps of air. Wanda rubbed her back and turned her head so she could whisper sweet nothings into her ear, that it was all over and it was time to go home.

Clint freed the kid and lifted him over his shoulder, ‘’I’ll take care of this, you just worry about her.’’ Then he ran down the broken stairwell.

Wanda lifted them into the air with her magic, flying them back home with Natasha safely in her arms. They safely landed on the helipad of the Avenger’s tower with Tony waiting by the door.

‘’Is she okay?’’ He asked.

‘’In time.’’ Wanda answered curtly as she carried her girlfriend in her arms past him.

‘’What about the asshole?’’

Wanda stopped for a moment. ‘’I made sure he won’t harm Peter again… at least not physically.’’ She continued to her path to the elevator, asking FRIDAY to bring them to their floor.

Tony nodded to himself and made his own way down to the medical bay, eager to spend more time with his kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there we have it. I made it so when Flash wakes up and stuff, he'll be interacting with Peter much like in the movies, harmless but still emotionally hurtful but not physical. This is so we keep the angst *wink wonk*, also I like to abuse him for plot.
> 
> Just to clear up, this is roughly set just a year after homecoming and every movie that happens after homecoming is no longer part of this story line. Rogues being pardoned and all that.


	3. Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter gets out of the med bay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you read last chapter as soon as it got out, please go back and read it again, I made a mistake with pasting the chapter and I didn't post like half the chapter so, yeah... I added the rest. 
> 
> I don't have a beta, so mistakes are my own.

Peter bounced a red stress ball against the wall opposite him, catching it easily and doing it again and again. He had been fully healed since the incident (it had been 3 days); nurses were still amazed by his healing factor. He still wasn’t allowed to wear his binder; his ribs were freshly injured, and Dr Cho said he shouldn’t aggravate them. He didn’t bother arguing, he knew better than to argue with one of the best scientist/doctors in the world.

Tony had been keeping him company whenever May was busy at work, the older man had been teaching him the mechanics behind nanobots, something Peter had been looking forward to learning with him for a while. They watched the entire Star Wars franchise on the massive flatscreen TV Tony had ordered to be rolled in since Peter could keep his eyes open for more than 3 hours.

Other Avengers had visited him whenever they could. Although he was sad when Wanda said Natasha wasn’t feeling well enough and Peter could sense something was wrong, but he didn’t push. Natasha was a mysterious woman, but he trusted that she would confess whatever was wrong when she was ready, or maybe she would never tell him. Peter didn’t mind if the older woman was okay.

Ned and MJ couldn’t visit since Ned got grounded and MJ was busy babysitting after school. Peter was slowly running out of things to distract himself with. He no longer had the IV drip attached and since his wounds had sealed up, he wore a very baggy shirt, one of Tony’s old ones. He hated how disgusting he looked. He missed the feeling of having a flat chest when he was awake. He hated how the Avengers would unconsciously glance at his chest, not used to it being there. Moments like those, are when Peter felt like he never changed.

‘’Alright kiddo, time to move back up to your room.’’ Tony came in with a tight smile. The ball dropped out of Peter’s hand. ‘’Aunt May said you’re staying for the rest of the week.’’

‘’Really?!’’ He jumped out of the bed, landing just in front of his mentor with the biggest grin on his face.

Tony rolled his tired eyes and slung his arm around the kid’s shoulders. ‘’Yes. But, no Spiderman until you’re 100% because a lot of people will be after my sweet ass if they found out I sent you out there so soon.’’

Peter nodded eagerly, stepping into the elevator and was rocking on the back of his heels, unable to keep the excitement contained.

‘’FRIDAY, take us up.’’

‘’Right away Boss.’’ The metal contraption moved upwards, skipping past several floors until it reached the penthouse at the top.

‘’Listen, kid. I was wondering…’’ Tony grabbed a water bottle that was conveniently placed on the kitchen counter they walked past and gave it to Peter, who drank half of it within the second. ‘’I was wondering if you would let me….-‘’ Tony stopped, feeling extremely awkward, not a feeling the man was used to. He was usually oozing with confidence and seeing him so nervous made Peter nervous.

‘’What is it, Mr Stark?’’ He leaned his hip on the counter edge, waiting for the man to carry on.

Tony copied the teen’s stance and ran his hand over his goatee. ‘’I want to help you get rid of them.’’ He said bluntly.

Peter raised an eyebrow at the weird statement. ‘’Get rid of what exactly?’’

Tony gestured towards his chest with a wave of his hand. ‘’You know. Those things you hate. Two big lumps.’’ He coughed and realised how inappropriate he sounded and how Pepper would smack him if she ever found out.

‘’Oh. OH!’’ Peter’s eyes bulged out as soon as he caught on and struggled responding to it. ‘’T-that’s okay Mr Stark. I-I already have money saved up for it.’’

‘’How much?’’

Peter bit his lip. ‘’Almost enough.’’

Tony sighed and crossed his arms. ‘’Kid. Just let me help you out. I want to help, so let me help.’’

‘’Thats a lot of helps in one sentence…’’ Peter whispered.

‘’Peter.’’ Tony’s stern voice made Peter focus again. ‘’How much?’’

‘’I saved up like $57.’’ Peter looked dejectedly at the floor; he had been saving up with the money people left Spiderman whenever they were incredibly nice. $20 were from Ned from last year.

Tony was less than impressed but stayed quiet, he pulled out his StarkPhone and quickly dialled a number. Peter didn’t stop him, instead he slid into the stool on the island and buried his face in his arms, embarrassed because he had to rely on someone else with his problems again.

‘’Hello? Can you get me in touch with the best surgeon for top surgery? Yeah, money isn’t a problem. Are you kidding? I don’t care if they’re all the way in Korea, I’ll fly the kid over there myself. What? No, of course not. Get it done, I want a number by the end of the day.’’ Tony hung up and ruffled the kid’s hair. ‘’Come on kid.’’

Peter weakly batted his hand away. ‘’I don’t need help.’’ He pouted.

‘’Yeah you do.’’

‘’No! I’m tired of relying on your money!’’ Peter groaned and rubbed his temple, frustrated that he was allowing his hormones to control his emotions again, but he couldn’t help but feel agitated. Inside he was ecstatic that he was going to get the surgery after waiting a long time for it.

‘’Peter. No one is judging you for relying on me.’’ Tony leaned down so he could look at Peter’s face comfortably. ‘’What kinda father figure would I be if I let my son live in pain for the rest of his life?’’

Peter felt like everything was surreal, from Tony Stark calling him his son.

‘’I used to be like that, I spent so much time in my own depression that I completely blocked out all the people around me, the people who cared about me. And I realised that was my biggest mistake, I was being immature for not seeking their help and it led to more mistakes. I’m still a broken man, but a broken man with help.’’ Tony smiled, pulling his ‘son’ into a hug.

Peter rested his forehead on Tony’s broad shoulder, his hands clenched at the material of Tony’s classic but expensive navy t-shirt. He felt the comforting strokes of Tony’s hand across his back, just like Aunt May used to do whenever he had nightmares when he was a kid.

Tony’s phone vibrated, indicating a call. He pulled away to answer it.

‘’So fast?’’ Tony answered. He played with Peter’s soft curls, mindlessly twirling them as he listened to the man on the phone. ‘’I see…. No-no, I understand. I’ll set call you later to set up the appointments.’’ He hung up.

Peter looked up at him with puppy eyes, Tony’s heart almost broke at how adorable it was but willed himself to concentrate.

‘’So, good news. The doctor in South Korea agreed to do it. Bad news…. Is that he will only do it once you reach 18. Full grown body and all that.’’ Tony winced when he saw Peter’s shoulders slump at the news. ‘’I mean 2 years, right? 2 years and you’ll be free.’’

‘’2 years…’’ Peter repeated. He swallowed a lump in his throat, thinking about the fact that he needed to live another 2 years with a body he knew he despised. Peter was smart enough to know that no doctor would agree to operate on him below the age of 18, he wasn’t about to break the law no matter how much he wants to cut his chest off.

‘’They said that you’ll have an appointment with a counsellor, once a month, make sure you’re… ‘in the right mindset’ and that you’re sure.’’

‘’Do you think you Dr Cho could make me a synthetic body to transfer my soul and mind to? Like Vision?’’

Tony chuckled. ‘’If that was possible, I would’ve already done it.’’

‘’So that’s a no?’’

‘’Not in our lifetime.’’

……………..

Tony had to leave for a board meeting, he had a lot of those lately, saying something about adding new people to the Avengers officially.

Without Tony there to distract him, Peter’s thoughts slowly reverted into the dark ones. He stood in his room; in front of the gigantic mirror he never really uses. He took off his shirt, throwing it to the side. He stared at the body that was supposedly his own.

He looked at the slight curves that the testosterone couldn’t even out, the muscles looked out of place. The soft curve of this shoulders, he dislikes how feminine it made him look, just because the slope of his shoulders was softer. Then there were the breasts. He didn’t like calling them ‘his’. Because that meant admitting he was something he was not.

He remembered the aching sensation he went through just after his 11th birthday. His Aunt said it was normal to experience some tenderness there because it meant his assets were coming through. He remembered screaming at her, that she should make it go away and that he didn’t want to wear that stupid bra she brought. He remembered how he had grabbed a knife as soon as they were big enough and slit the underside of the chest, but May rushed in just in time to knock the kitchen knife away before he could do any serious harm. He was never allowed near any knives until he was 15.

Peter’s fingers ran over the faint scar on the bottom of the left lump of flesh, then all the ones across this stomach and upper arms, usually hidden from the clothing he wore.

‘’Stupid 18. Wait two years…’’ He muttered to himself. He started pacing around his room, his shirt off, not caring about it anymore. Ignoring the weight on his chest. He missed his prepubescent years when he could just run around half-naked without people caring but if he tried now, he would be on national TV.

He took a trip down memory lane, like how he missed the many graphic t-shirts his uncle Ben gifted him every time he went to comic con. Though he had to throw them out after he started going through some unwanted changes. He threw out every tight clothing he had, anything that showed his curves or chest had to go. He replaced them with old hoodies that were his Aunt and Uncle’s hand-me-downs. Even with his binder, he was too scared to wear anything too tight. Just going outside without his binder was anxiety inducing.

Then he had a flashback about the incident with the toilet. Public toilets.

He resented them.

Peter shivered thinking about all those times he had to hold his bladder just because all the stalls in the men’s restroom was taken. Or that time when he was so desperate, he went into the women’s but was shouted at and got kicked out the restaurant. His Aunt sued them, but nothing really happened.

The spiderling stopped pacing when someone came into his room. When he looked up, or rather down, he saw Wanda upside down in his doorway with comically wide eyes.

‘’Uhhh….’’ The young Avenger blushed and turned around. ‘’Peter, wheres your shirt?’’

Peter realised his mindless pacing resulted him standing upside down, half-naked, on the ceiling. He saw his shirt on his bed and he quickly jumped down to put it back on.

‘’S-sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.’’ He felt his whole-body flush.

‘’You look better.’’ She said, glad that Peter was now covered and decent. ‘’Apart from that nasty bruise on your jaw.’’ She pointed out.

Peter’s fingers gently prodded the coloured cheek. ‘’Yeah, Dr Cho said my healing doesn’t work too well with bruising, something about the healing factor concentrates on the more serious injuries.’’

Wanda nodded and took a seat on his bed, patting the space next to her.

Peter sat down and faced her. ‘’Is she okay?’’

‘’Shes getting there, the whole thing hit harder than we thought.’’

‘’What happened?’’

Wanda took a moment to think about her response but ultimately chose to tell the truth. ‘’Nat decided to go after him, eye for an eye. She kidnapped him and beat him up badly. Clint stopped her before she could kill him.’’

Peter stayed silent and rubbed his thighs nervously. ‘’Is he…?’’

‘’Hes fine, for the most part. Clint told me he dropped the asshole next to a hospital and I wiped his memory of that night.’’ Wanda stared at a framed photo of Peter, Natasha and herself. They were hugging each other, and she remembered it was taken the day Tony announced that Peter was a junior Avenger.

‘’She cares about you a lot; I don’t think she regrets what she did. More like she was sorry about lapsing back into her old self, one she hates. The one she was determined to not show around you.’’ She continued.

Peter nodded and tried not to think about Flash.

‘’What were you doing up on the ceiling?’’ She changed the subject.

‘’I was thinking about how I have to wait two years to get rid of… well, those things.’’

‘’Why two years?’’

Peter shrugged. ‘’Something about waiting for my body to fully develop.’’ He flopped back onto the bed, Wanda joined him, and Peter snuggled close to her. ‘’Its so unfair.’’

‘’We’ll all be there for you. You don’t have to go through this alone.’’ She threads her fingers through his curls and started to draw patterns on his scalp.

Peter didn’t answer, he was fast asleep with his face on her shoulders, arm slung around her waist. Wanda didn’t mind, she would rather have Peter in slumber than have him in pain. She tried not to think about all the scars she saw on his body, especially around his chest. She knew the injuries were inflicted before the spider bit him, otherwise they would’ve healed long ago. She never knew Peter self-harmed; it made her sick to think about a young Peter carving his body with a knife.

‘I won’t let that happen again.’ She thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are much appreciated :D only if you want to though


	4. Progress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter gets to talk with his spider mom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, you may have noticed I changed the pairing from MJ to Felicia, I did it because I think Black Cat would add some interesting things in the story plots for this fic, I think shes a better match for this Peter. 
> 
> If you're not comfortable with the age gap, please turn away. Peter is 16/17 and Felicia will be 20/21 (almost end of college/uni), its not that big of a gap but I know some will be uncomfortable with it.
> 
> So, yeah, short chapter but it'll pick up next chapter.

Peter woke up on his bed alone, a note next to his head, Wanda’s beautiful handwriting scribbled.

‘I’m sorry I had to leave, I had to go help the Avengers do something, I told FRIDAY not to wake you. Love, Wanda.’

The teen stretched and realised there was a blanket thrown over him, it had the faces of all the Avengers printed on it. It was a joke gift from Clint, apparently, he had spent a whole week photoshopping it, making it look perfect. After knowing that, Peter didn’t have the heart to throw it away.

‘’Are you feeling better today Peter? Boss wanted me to remind you about the cream Dr Cho prescribed you for your bruises.’’ The AI said, soft spoken as always, Irish accent ever so charming.

Peter looked up by habit and smiled. ‘’I’m feeling much better, thanks, and yeah, I’ll go put it on now.’’

While he did so, he looked out the large glass pane windows, and saw the quinjet over the helipad a couple of floors down from his. ‘’Are they all back?’’ He asked.

‘’Yes, Thor, Loki, Mr Barton, Miss Maximoff, Mr Barnes and Mr Wilson has finished with their mission.’’ She answered, not missing a beat. ‘’They are all in good condition, down in the common area.’’ She added.

Peter felt giddy and dug through his closet for the closest baggy hoodie he could find, throwing it on and rushing to the elevator. FRIDAY already had the doors open, reading Peter’s actions with slight amusement when he almost fell over, sliding into the metal contraption.

He was extra excited because he hadn’t seen the Godly pair of brothers since last month.

The door opened with a ‘ding’ and he could see the backs of the Avengers. They were standing around the meeting table Tony had installed because it was more convenient than his lab. Peter noticed they looked tense and he could practically see the anger radiating off Thor.

He jumped to the ceiling and crawled until he was above them, none of them had a clue.

‘’He got away again.’’ Steve said. ‘’We cornered him, but his drones were smarter this time. They managed to corner Thor and Loki and cut off Wanda’s powers, we can’t let those drones get near a city, they’ll destroy it before we can even do anything.’’

Tony sighed and played around with the hologram on the table. ‘’Give me two days and I can try build something that could fry their circuit boards. Doom probably designed them so that a normal EMP wouldn’t do anything.’’

‘’I managed to put a bug in one of the drones, hopefully it’ll tell us where hes building them.’’ Sam added. He had a notable number of cuts and bruises on his face. Friday obviously missed that.

‘’Is this about Dr Doom?’’ Peter dropped down and landed, crouched on the table, the holograms going through his body.

‘’Shit!’’

‘’PETER!’’

‘’Sorry…’’ Peter grimaced; the shouting made his ears ache. ‘’I forgot how quiet I was.’’

‘’Man of Spiders! It is a pleasure to see you again!’’ Thor grinned and pulled Peter into a warm hug; Peter made sure to put his arms between their chests, but Thor didn’t think anything of it.

‘’Its nice to see you too, Mr Thor. You too, Mr Loki.’’

The slimmer God smirked and nodded in greeting. ‘’We’ve been through this before, just call us by our names.’’

Peter shrugged and turned back to Tony. ‘’I have something that might help, I ran into him last year and he threw something at me, but Ned said it was damaged and didn’t work.’’

Tony narrowed his eyes. ‘’You’re saying you ran into a highly dangerous enemy and didn’t think to tell me before now?’’

Peter gulped and jumped off the table, standing very close to Wanda who wrapped her arm around his shoulders. ‘’Uh… I forgot?’’ He answered weakly.

‘’Kid, we’re talking later. But back to the point, we would love whatever he threw at you.’’ Tony swiped the holograms away and pulled up a map of New York, parts of the map had red circles on them, covering several blocks of buildings.

‘’These are the areas he has targeted over the past year.’’ Steve said, he crossed his massive arms. ‘’Most of them are large warehouses, evicted and did poorly on the market. No one wants them.’’

Tony hummed and zoomed into one of the warehouses. ‘’He must be looking for something in particular or aiming to destroy it.’’

‘’Let’s leave them to talk about it, we can go grab some lunch.’’ Wanda whispered into his ear. He knew what she was doing but didn’t mind, he wasn’t exactly able to force himself onto the team, especially since he turned down Tony’s offer to be an Avenger last year.

‘’Sure, can we go to Delmar’s? They have the best sandwiches.’’ They walk to the elevator, a short ride down.

‘’Of course. We can grab something for Nat too.’’ Wanda said. ‘’I was thinking maybe you should try talking to her, she won’t come out of her room and she won’t talk to anyone but me. I tried but theres only so much I can do; I worry about her. Shes barely eating.’’

Peter nodded and pulled his hoodie away from his chest, looking down to make sure nothing was showing. ‘’I will. I’ll try my best. Do you think she’ll talk to me?’’

Wanda linked their arms, feeling particularly affectionate and also there were more people out on the streets than usual. ‘’She adores you. You know she’ll never ignore you, маленький паук.’’

He tried to ignore her forearm that was resting just underneath his chest. ‘’Is this the first time you’ve seen her like this?’’

‘’No.’’ She answered. They had a few people taking pictures and videos of her, she was publicly recognised as the Avenger’s witch. People were never brave enough to go up to her like they did with the other Avengers, it had hurt her at first but then she realised it was a blessing in disguise. She waited for them to pass, walking faster. ‘’Shes had a couple of episodes. Small ones, after a bad mission or something someone said, a night of cuddling usually did the trick.’’

Peter cringed when she said cuddling, he was old enough to know what cuddling meant.

Wanda noticed and smirked. ‘’You’ll do it one day too, I’m sure. And then, I get to tease you all I want.’’

Peter rolled his eyes and push open the door to Delmar’s, the owner grinned at him and let the two scan the menu for what they want. ‘’I’ll stay a cuddle virgin forever thanks.’’

‘’Mr Delmar, can I have the usual please? Wanda, what do you want?’’ He turned to her, expecting to see her scanning the menu like a robot but she held his hand.

‘’Can I have two more of those please.’’ She said. The man behind the counter grinned and got to work.

‘’Your girlfriend is pretty, Parker.’’ He remarked.

‘’Oh, s-shes not my girlfriend- Mr Delmar, shes-‘’

Wanda butted in before Peter could make more of a mess. ‘’I’m gay, I have a girlfriend. Peter is like a little brother to me.’’

Mr Delmar’s eyes grew wide and he chuckled to himself, ‘’Sorry, I just assumed, you two seem close though.’’

Peter nodded and kept it at that, he switched to Russian, but the owner didn’t seem to mind, albeit surprised he could speak it. ‘ _’That was embarrassing. The gang will probably tease me for that._ ’’

‘’ _Not if I don’t mention anything, I will to Nat though, she’ll find it funny_.’’ Wanda laughed, her hand squeezing a little bit. ‘ _’Do we really look like a couple_?’’

‘ _’No, but hes been teasing me about being single for the past 3 years so.’’_ Peter shrugged and dug into his pockets for some money, he totally forgot to grab his wallet before leaving. He cursed in his mind, but Wanda had handed more than enough money to the man.

‘’Keep the change, Mr Delmar, you’ve been feeding my little brother for a long time.’’ She gave him a sweet smile and grabbed the bag. Peter waved at the man before being pulled through the doors.

…….

Peter stood outside Natasha and Wanda’s shared bedroom on their floor. He held the bag containing both their sandwiches, Wanda had chosen to leave them alone, saying that it would be better that way. Peter knew she wanted to stay, but he agreed. It was always easier to reason with the spy when they were alone.

‘’I can hear you thinking.’’ Natasha said, loud enough so that she knew Peter could hear her through the thick doors. ‘’Its disturbing.’’

Peter opened the door slowly, it revealed a messy room, a weird sight considering how methodical the older woman was. Her room was almost always pristine, never a thing misplaced but it was trashed now. Her clothes were thrown over the floor, a smashed bedside lamp in the corner with shards of glass sticking out the baby blue walls. Peter looked at her knuckles and they were crusted over with scabs, healing from what looked to be a fight with the massive plane of glass they all had as windows in their own rooms. The glass itself had smears of dried blood on it.

‘’Nat…’’

‘’Don’t.’’

Peter went and sat next to her in her unmade bed. She looked like a different person, bags under her eyes, her hair sticking out in places and she didn’t have her signiture smirk whenever she greeted him.

‘’Nat.. Wanda is worried about you, I’m worried about you, we all are.’’ Peter reached out but she pulled away before he could even touch her. ‘’Please…’’

‘’I don’t want to hurt you-‘’

‘’You won’t.’’

‘’You don’t know that!’’ She snapped. ‘’I almost killed a teenager because I couldn’t control myself.’’

Peter stayed silent and watched her quietly cry into her own hands.

‘’I-I, almost killed him... and I still think he deserved it.’’ She sighed and looked at him with bloodshot eyes. ‘’I wanted to do what he did to you. I wanted him to feel what you felt that day, alone, scared, on the cold concrete floor laying in your own blood.’’

Peter looked down at the dull, grey carpeted floors. His mind went blank, he couldn’t remember what they did to them, how it felt, he had blocked all that out the moment he was hit with that pole. He had only concentrated on surviving, blocking in the most vital spots, the ones Natasha taught him. Behind his neck, his chest, his head.

‘’I’m a grown adult. I made the wrong decision, no matter how much I wanted to hurt him, I made the wrong choice.’’

Peter set the sandwiches aside and pulled her into a hug, he felt her bury her head into his shoulders. He didn’t care that she could feel his ‘exposed’ chest, or the fact that her tears were soaking his hoodie.

‘’You’re a grown adult with a horrible past, one that haunts you, one that changed you.’’ He said. He rubbed her back in slow circles, just like she did for him sometimes. ‘’I’m not going to say what you did was okay, otherwise I’d be a terrible Spider-man. But you need to cut yourself some slack, it was a bad judgment and its done, you can’t change it. Flash is still alive, Wanda and Clint made sure of that.’’

She didn’t say anything.

‘’Nat, you told me a while ago that your past doesn’t define you. You said that to me when I let that guy go at that store, and then my uncle died because I had decided to be a jackass that day. I’m not saying that situation compares to yours in any way, but I was a jackass, so were you that night. You didn’t hold it against me, I’m not going to hold it against you either.’’

‘’Do you mean it? I’m not a monster?’’ She mumbled against the fabric of his hoodie, her voice soft and unsure.

Peter’s heart broke at that. ‘’I’m sure. I would never think you’re a monster. Monsters aren’t good people and you’re a good person.’’ Peter said with purpose.

Nat sat back slightly so she could kiss his forehead. ‘’I’m sorry for not talking to you and making you worry, маленький паук.’’

Peter offered a jaded smile, ‘’You should probably be apologising to your very concerned girlfriend who I can hear eating her sandwich right outside the door.’’ He raised his voice so Wanda could hear him, a moment later, she appeared with a sheepish grin and some crumbs on the corner of her mouth.

‘’Sorry, I sensed her crying and I came as soon as I could.’’ She said, taking a seat on the other side of Natasha.

‘’I’m sorry, Wanda, for everything. I ruined our room…’’

Wanda threaded her fingers through Natasha’s and wiped the tears off her cheeks with her thumb. ‘’I don’t care about the room; I care about you. I should’ve gotten Peter to talk to you sooner, but I was worried he wasn’t ready since he was healing.’’ She kissed her cheek, making Natasha feel a hundred times better.

‘’So, I saw you got me something to eat?’’ Natasha changed the subject, the other two seemed happy to go along, seeing how she was no longer wallowing in her own sadness.

‘’Yup, Delmar’s, my favourite.’’ He handed her the sandwich and started digging into his own.

‘’Thanks, you two, I don’t know what I would do without you guys.’’ Natasha said. She stared at the sandwich, carefully unwrapping it.

Wanda smirked and moved the conversation along, taking advantage of Peter’s full mouth and the inability to defend himself. ‘’The owner of the place we got lunch from thought Peter and I were dating.’’

Natasha almost choked on the bite she was eating, trying not to laugh at the kid with a face the colour of a tomato.


	5. A Shocking Introduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter gets an upgrade and bumps into someone new

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are about to get more interesting...

‘’Thanks Spider-man!’’ The little girl scurried off to her parents, the pair of adults shot a grateful and tearful smile at the vigilante who saved their kid from being hit by a car.

Peter waved at them and swung away, careful not to smash into any birds that were flying past.

‘’Hey Karen, anymore activity?’’

The AI took a moment to scan his surroundings and Peter waited patiently, perched on top of a lamppost. People knew who he was now, many didn’t pay him any attention, they were used to a masked guy casually hanging above them.

‘’Nothing as of now Peter, but you do have a message from Mr Stark. Would you like me to play it for you?’’ She asked.

‘’Go ahead Karen, I’m gonna swing by the tower.’’

A beep and the message played; Tony’s familiar voice came through. ‘’Hey. Kiddo. Uh, well, you know about your chest and all that? Yeah. Not a great idea swinging in that binder of yours. I know you have super healing powers and stuff but that’s gotta hurt right? Right. So, I got something for you. Come stop by the tower before you go back to that hot aunt of yours. FRIDAY, end message.’’

‘’Why does everyone say my aunt is hot?...’’ Peter muttered.

‘’May Parker is a very beautiful woman, Peter.’’ Karen said, amused by his embarrassment. ‘’Do you not agree?’’

‘’Shes beautiful.’’ He agreed. He swung faster, it was getting dark and said aunt wanted him to be back in time for dinner, she told him that she was going to try start cooking more often and even started to go to cooking lessons. ‘’I hope she doesn’t burn anything tonight; I’m starving.’’

It has been 2 weeks since that incident. He was allowed to go be Spider-man as long as he didn’t spend too much time in the binder. At school, Flash had barely any scratches on him, but he was like a different person. He was nicer in a way. He still called Peter names as per usual, but it was never physical anymore and Peter had a feeling Wanda had something to do with that. Flash obviously couldn’t remember what had happened with him and that was for the best. Flash’s friends were all pulled out of school and sent to juvie. It was only Flash left.

At the Avenger’s tower, he landed outside Tony’s lab floor, the man always left a big enough window for him to crawl through, open. Peter saw him tinkering with something at his holographic table, speaking to FRIDAY and telling her to do somethings.

‘’Mr Stark?’’

‘’Jesus kid.’’ Tony clutched his arc reactor in shock and closed his eyes, calming his nerves. ‘’I told you to make some noise.’’

Peter placed his bag, which he picked up on the way, on the floor and took off his mask, shaking his hair out of his face. ‘’Sorry, Mr Stark, it’s a bad habit.’’ He looked at the holograms, his eyes widen at what they were.

‘’Kid, I think its time for an upgrade, don’t you think? FRIDAY, pull up Spider-man mark 2.’’ There was a platform in the lab that opened and up came a mannequin, dressed in a Spider-man suit similar to what Peter was wearing now.

The design was almost the same, however, the classic blue was now a blacker tone, the black covered more of the arm than the red did and overall it looked a bit more technically advanced, upgraded, sleeker.

‘’What do you think? I think I could’ve done better with the reaction time for your AI and zoom capabilities but since I can’t make your suit bulky, there’s only so much tech I can sew in. The suit is knife proof. Not bullet proof, so try not to get-‘’

Peter cut him off with a hug, he slammed into the older man’s side, wrapping his arms tightly around his middle. ‘’This is perfect.’’

Tony chuckled and patted his head. ‘’I haven’t told you about the best part yet.’’

Peter looked up, ‘’Theres more?’’

‘’Yup.’’ Tony popped the P. ‘’Go ahead and try it on, take off your binder though.’’

‘’But-‘’

‘’Trust me kid.’’ Tony walked out the room, the windows automatically changed to one-way glass and the windows of the door blacked out. ‘’FRIDAY, tell me when the kid is done changing.’’

Peter pressed the spider emblem on his chest and his suit loosened around him, he shrugged it off quickly and did the same for the new suit on the mannequin. He looked down at his binder and back to the door. Realistically he knew his mentor would never judge him for what he had but it didn’t mean it wasn’t uncomfortable.

He shook his thoughts away and wiggled out of the tight piece of clothing, carefully setting it back inside his backpack, Tony bought him a bunch of new ones, but he would rather not have another one damaged, they were expensive.

Once he put on the new suit, it smelt like a new car. The material was slightly different this time and Peter instantly felt how flexible it was, not that his old one wasn’t, this one just allowed that tiny bit more movement. He jumped up and down, noticing that he barely made any sound each time he landed and felt a bit of cushioning.

The doors opened and Tony grinned at him and his work. ‘’Nice looking.’’ Tony tried not to look at Peter’s chest, knowing the kid would be self-conscious about it. ‘’Press the button on the side of your right bracelet.’’

Peter did as he was told and instantly the area around his chest constricted, he panicked for a second, wondering what was going on before seeing his chest flatten out without making him feel like he was drowning.

‘’Woah…’’ He ran his gloved hand over the now flat surface and beamed at Tony. ‘’This is amazing!’’

Tony leant his backside on one of the many tables in his lab. ‘’Yeah well, Dr Cho said if you continued swinging in those binders you could potentially ruin your respiratory system for good. I want you to be safe. Less itchy? Not too tight?’’

Peter stopped feeling up his chest and answered him. ‘’No, its great, its perfect. Thank you, Mr Stark, this is the best present ever.’’

Tony rolled his eyes and got off the desk to bring the kid into his arms. They hugged tightly and the older man rested the side of his face on the mop of curly brown hair.

‘’Call me Tony and we can call it even.’’

The kid stilled in his arms and laughed awkwardly. ‘’Why the sudden name change?’’

‘’Its always been my name kid. What? Its been a year already and you’re still calling me ‘Mr Stark’.’’ Tony said his name mockingly, copying Peter’s boyish voice. ‘’Thought we were closer than that?’’

‘’W-what? No! Of course! I-I just, it feels weird, ya’know?’’

‘’Come on kid. I want to hear you say it.’’ Tony pulled back and crossed his arms, putting on a half-serious face on.

Peter sighed and cringed.

‘’Come on. Say it with me. Tonnnnnyyyyyyy-‘’

‘’T-Tony.’’

‘’There we go! That wasn’t so hard.’’

Peter looked unimpressed and jerked his thumb towards the window. ‘’Aunt May is expecting me soon, can I come by tomorrow? I want to ask Thor about something.’’

‘’Oh. Problem. Thor and his weirdo brother left just before you came. They were in a hurry, something about their sister trying to get to Asgard. Normal. We don’t know when they’ll be back, also they took Bruce with them so. Yeah.’’

Peter digested all that and nodded dumbly. ‘’Family feud. Okay. In outta space.’’ He was sad that he couldn’t hang out like them.

‘’Stop by anyways. Nat and Wanda have something for you.’’ Tony went to fold Peter’s suit, giving it to him. ‘’Karen is in both suits; newer one has a later model but keep this one as your backup.’’

Peter took it and hugged Tony again. ‘’Thank you.’’

…….

Peter did plan to change into his civilian clothes and take the subway home like a regular human but after being gifted a kick ass suit, he couldn’t resist the temptation of swinging again.

‘’Whoooppppp!’’ He yelled out in joy, spinning and flipping in the air, living in the moment.

He noticed the display was more technical, showing him things like number plates at the corner of his screen whenever he looked at the traffic jammed streets, a picture ID of the person whenever he looked at someone for more than 3 seconds. He loved it.

He popped out his empty web cartridges mid-air, changing them fluidly like hes been practising and continued to swing home. He was only a few blocks away when he saw a flash of black and white run past him from below. They were running in the direction of the local bank he used. The teen stopped swinging and stuck to the nearest building, watching what was going on.

‘’Karen?’’

‘’Yes, Peter?’’

‘’Zoom in, can you focus on that person, the one wearing the black around the back of the bank.’’

His lenses zoomed in and tracked the person’s movement, Peter could now see it was a woman wearing a tight cat suit, it was tactical like his own. The woman had silvery-white hair, tied into a ponytail, some of it framing her face. Half of her face was covered by a mask, obstructing a clear facial scan.

The woman was hacking into the security lock they had at the back entrance. Unfortunately, there were no guards to be seen and the pedestrians didn’t even pay any attention to her.

‘’Oh no, shes about to rob it!’’ Peter bounced into action, rushing as fast as he could. Before the woman could push open the door, Peter barged into her side, sending her flying away but she twisted around, landing on her feet. Impossible for the average human to pull off. Peter knew she was more than just the run-of-the-mill cat burglar.

‘’So, did you forget your pin? You know you could always go to the help desk, right?’’ Peter quipped.

The woman narrowed her eyes behind her slim goggle/mask and smirked. ‘’So, you’re the wall crawler everyone has been going on about. You’re younger than I thought you would be.’’

Peter shrugged. ‘’Lady, where did you get your suit? It looks dope, I got mine from Tony Stark.’’

‘’Call me Black Cat.’’ Black Cat said, she straightened out and walked closer to Peter, her steps were sensual and carefully thought out. ‘’Spider-man, right?’’ She dodged his question.

Peter looked up at her, she was a few inches taller than him. ‘’The one and only.’’ He took a couple of steps back; his spider senses were humming quietly. ‘’Why were you robbing a local bank?’’

‘’Dumb question, don’t you think?’’ She chuckled lowly and pressed the pad of her index finger on Peter’s chest, running it down slowly. Peter was glad that Tony had made this built-in binder or else she would’ve noticed quickly.

The crime stopper cleared his throat and pushed her hand away, trying not to focus on how attractive the woman was, her cleavage was showing quite a bit. The white fur was really distracting. ‘’Trucks picked up the money an hour ago and the place is void of money.’’ He pointed out.

That comment seemed to make the woman sober up. ‘’Brawl _and_ brains.’’

‘’If you walk away now, I won’t bring you in.’’

She looked at him with a small smile, ‘’You’re too sweet for someone of your job description.’’ Her hand shot out and she threw a small piece of technology onto him, his senses were too slow, it latched onto his suit and pierced through it and into his flesh. A second later he was covered in static electricity, red warning signs covering his display. The Black Cat glanced at him and ran inside the building.

‘’Peter, systems are reaching critical stages, you must remove the device blocking my capabilities.’’

Peter clenched his jaws at the pain from being electrocuted. He was kneeling on the ground, struggling to grab the tiny thing attached to his lower hip. ‘’Urgh, dammit!’’ His muscles refused to cooperate with him, but he shoved himself on the ground, causing the device to break from the impact. He laid on his back, groaning at his sore body, getting electrocuted was not fun. He felt bad for all the people Thor hit with his lightning.

‘’You are special, everyone else had their eyes rolled to the back of their heads.’’ Black Cat said as she walked back out. She was holding a small briefcase in one hand, the other was poised pointing upwards, and then she shot a grappling hook to roof of the building beside the bank. ‘’See you later Spidey~’’ She winked and blew him a kiss, shooting upwards and disappearing from Peter’s sight.

Peter was too exhausted to chase after her, Karen was almost fully back online, giving him a list of things, she had managed to record about the woman who just ran away.

‘’Peter, Aunt May is calling you.’’

Peter closed his eyes and gave the go ahead. ‘’Hey May, I know, I know, I’m late. I’m so sorry.’’

‘’You okay? You sound out of breath, did something go wrong on patrol?’’

Peter rubbed his hip, still tender from being punctured there. He picked up the device laying dead next to him and was glad to see the metal prongs weren’t that long, they haven’t severed any veins or anything inside of him.

‘’I’m fine, ran into someone who caught me off guard. They got away…’’ He flipped it over to see the front of it and saw an Oscorp logo. ‘’Well shit….’’ He whispered. Once he was strong enough, he got back on his feet and made his way home. He webbed up the open door, enough that people wouldn’t be able to get through them.

‘’Well, I called to let you know dinner didn’t go to plan… I didn’t burn it this time! I just added salt instead of sugar and everything tastes bad, so I ordered Chinese, hope you don’t mind.’’ She explained.

Peter snickered, ‘’No problem May, sounds great, I’ll be there in 5.’’ He hung up and his thoughts went back to the mysterious woman. Peter had never even met her before, she either must be new or a professional who ran into Spider-man at the wrong time.

‘’Karen, can you try ID her?’’

The AI compiled all the pictures she took and piece them together. ‘’I have no luck finding her real name, but I did find something on the crime net. Black Cat is a freelancer, she takes orders from the highest bidders and her attempts have 100% success rates.’’

‘’Call Mr Stark.’’

‘’Tony.’’ She corrected.

Peter groaned, ‘’He programmed you to do that every time, didn’t he?’’

‘’Yes. Calling Tony.’’

Peter climbed through his open bedroom window and saw the boxes of Chinese takeout already stacked neatly on his desk.

‘’Kid, don’t tell me you already got shot.’’

‘’Not exactly-‘’

‘’What?! What do you mean, not exactly?! Are you hurt?’’ Peter could hear the man’s armour being formed around him.

‘’No! I’m fine! I’m just sore. I wanted to know, if you know, a Black Cat.’’

‘’Black Cat?’’

‘’Yeah, sexy silver-head woman, cat suit, sharp claws? She took something from my local bank today and it wasn’t money.’’

Tony thought about it and immediately pulled up any files he had on high listed criminals in New York. He disabled his armour and ordered FRIDAY to put it back. ‘’There was a Black Cat I kept files on, but that one is a male, in his 50’s and dead. Died in prison, he got caught long before you were born kiddo.’’

Peter raked his brain for any ideas, he tossed the Oscorp taser up and down in the air. ‘’Does he have a daughter?’’

‘’Felicia Hardy, 20 years old, moved to Europe when her father was incarcerated at the age of 6 to live with distant family.’’

‘’I’ll test something out next time I run into her.’’ Peter says, he opened the containers and took a big whiff of the delicious food.

‘’Be careful, if she is his daughter, they’ll have the same MO.’’

‘’I will, talk to you later.’’

‘’See ya kid.’’

………

Peter covered as much as could with his body, Mr Barker was too busy reading his WW2 book to pay attention anyways.

‘’Any luck?’’ Peter whispers over his shoulder, he watched as Ned dissembled the small taser, meticulously laying out all the pieces by size order.

‘’Good news, it’s a one-time use kinda thing. Bad news, this tech is really new, and I have no idea what the hell I’m lookin’ at.’’ Ned shrugged and pointed at the small circuit board. ‘’It’s the latest model, as far as I know, only Tony Stark has tech like this. Oscorp is a few generations behind so, she must’ve upgraded it by herself. I can’t believe you got tased, did it hurt?’’

Peter bit the inside of his cheek, wondering who the heck the lady was.

‘’Yeah, hurt quite a bit. I have to figure out what she stole, it might help the police take down a drug ring or something.’’

‘’What are you losers up to?’’ MJ snuck up behind Ned, peering over his shoulder.

‘’MJ!’’ Ned hissed. He dropped the tool he was using and smacked her arm. ‘’And we’re trying to figure out where this new tech came from.’’

‘’Alright, have fun. Don’t be late for decathlon.’’ She pointedly raised an eyebrow at Peter.

‘’Sorry MJ, Nat and Wanda have something planned.’’

She rolled her eyes so hard, Peter thought they might get stuck at the back of her sockets but didn’t say anything, leaving the classroom with her signiture scowl. He felt bad, hes already missed several practices because of patrol and being too injured to go. He considered dropping out, but MJ threatened to slit his throat and he didn’t want to risk testing how real that threat was. She said that he would be okay if he went to the important events.

‘’Ned, can you take this home and see if you can backtrack wherever it came from?’’

‘’Sure, dude, but don’t you think Mr Stark will have better luck?’’ Ned asked.

Peter pulled Ned in for their famous handshake. ‘’You’re my guy in the chair, plus Mr Stark- urgh, Tony, is busy upstate right now. I’ll call you later about it.’’

‘’Bye Peter!’’ Ned shouted after him. Then the regular but smart human was left to finish off what they started. Trying not to freak out over the fact that he was left in charge of a very vital part of their mission.

………………

Peter itched where his binder dug in underneath his armpits, lately everything has been itchy for him and he didn’t know why, maybe it was the new detergent May was using. At the tower it was quiet, as far as he knew, it was only Natasha, Wanda, Steve, Vision and Sam left in the building. The Gods and Bruce were still radio silent, not that they could really contact them from out of space, they weren’t that advanced yet, but he knew Tony was working on it. Clint was with his family. Bucky was visiting Wakanda, which made the spiderling very jealous, he has been begging Tony to let him go.

He used the front entrance this time, the workers at the lobby greeted him, he was in his regular clothes and was given an Avenger’s clearance badge under the cover of being Tony Stark’s personal intern.

When he got into the private elevator, FRIDAY greeted him with a chipper voice. ‘’Hello, Peter, where would you like to go today?’’

‘’Nat and Wanda’s floor please. Do you know when Mr Stark will be back?’’

The elevator started to go up, but at a much slower rate than what he was used to. None of his spider senses was going off though, so he wasn’t worried.

‘’Tony?’’

‘’Not you too! Did he do this to every AI he owns?!’’

FRIDAY laughed quietly, something Peter thought she couldn’t do but obviously she had a massive update like Karen did.

‘’Boss will be upstate up until Monday night. He has several financial and board meetings that Miss Potts has demanded he attend, Boss has skipped over 100 over the course of 1 week.’’ She said.

Peter whistled and did not feel sorry for the man, Peter was kind of scared of Pepper no matter how nice she was to him. Pepper was someone he looked up to, a strong woman, CEO and married to Tony Stark but still managed to make a name for herself. She was also someone Peter talked to whenever May was too busy at the hospital. He found that the woman had a way with words and helped calm Peter when he was panicking about that certain time of the month.

The doors slid open and the living area was empty. Which was weird since by this time, the couple would be lounging on the couch, watching an old movie.

‘’FRIDAY, where are they?’’ When FRIDAY didn’t answer him, he crouched in his defensive position, listening closely for any clues. He still couldn’t feel anything from his spidey senses. He wondered if it was broken.

‘’Boo!’’ Peter jumped up and crawled to the corner of the ceiling beside the elevator. Wanda was standing there with a box in her hand, a wide and playful smile stretching across her face.

‘’Wanda! How- why- How did you do that?!’’ Peter dropped down and slumped down onto the ground, now he knew how Tony felt whenever he snuck up on the older man. His heart was racing.

‘’You forget I have mystical powers.’’

‘’FRIDAY was you in on this?’’ He glared at the ceiling.

‘’Sorry, Peter, Miss Maximoff requested I stay quiet.’’ She apologised and Peter didn’t have the heart to be angry at the AI.

‘’Tony said you should have a taste of your own medicine.’’ Wanda said, she held out her hand and Peter grabbed it, she pulled him up easily. She handed Peter the small white box in her hand. ‘’A present, Natasha and I saw it while we were shopping the other day.’’

Peter daintily peeled back the lid and gasped at the object that was securely imbedded inside the velvet case. It was an hourglass emblem. The same one he knew Natasha wore on her costume belt; it became her insignia when she became the Black Widow. It was iconic.

‘’Its beautiful…’’ He complimented. Then he saw the same jewellery around Wanda’s neck.

‘’We all have one. A special thing between us three.’’ Wanda took the necklace out of the box, hooking it in place behind Peter’s neck. ‘’Shes waiting for us in the gym. You know how she hates skipping training.’’

‘’Do you think she’ll teach me how to move when electrocuted?’’

‘’You got electrocuted?!’’

Peter spent the rest of the evening sparring and getting scolded by the Black Widow for being so slack with his attention when it came to the Black Cat. Turns out, Natasha knew who Black Cat was, not their identity though. She taught him how to manipulate his muscles if he was ever electrocuted again, so he could quickly get back on his feet. It took him several tries before he got it down.

‘’I’ve been following her, making sure she doesn’t do something too drastic. I even hired her in the past to get some dirty work done.’’ She admitted, unwrapping her hands from the sweaty and dirty bandages. Peter did the same for his and laid down on the well-worn mats.

‘’Shes up to something.’’ Peter said.

‘’Shes always up to something, маленький паук, why are you so enamoured by her anyways?’’ She asked, taking a seat beside his head, running her fingers through his curls.

‘’I’m not!’’

‘’It sounds like you have a crush on her, she does look pretty.’’ Wanda remarked from her spot on the bench. She was looking at the Starkpad that displayed Felicia Hardy’s high school graduation photo. ‘’I didn’t know you were into older women, Peter.’’ She teased.

Peter blushed and thought back to how Felicia trailed her finger down his chest, the fact that there wasn’t a thick binder between the suit and his skin, made it even more sensual to think about. More intimate.

‘’S-shut up! No, I don’t! Shes a criminal and I stop criminals, shes makes me nervous.’’ Peter denied, blushing from the tips of his ears.

Natasha flicked his nose. ‘’We won’t judge you for having a little crush. If I were you, I would stay away from her. Shes too unpredictable and has too many hidden agendas. Who knows, she could even be stringing you along for something as we speak.’’

‘’But-‘’

‘’But I know what you’re like so I’m going to train you more often so you can look after yourself.’’ She interrupted. ‘’Shes far beyond your league kiddo, shes been in the business for a while and shes enhanced.’’

‘’Enhanced? Like me?’’ Peter sat up with vigour, excited at the prospect of meeting someone like him.

‘’Only in her suit. Her suit makes her strength, speed and all that good stuff boosted. The Tinkerer made it for her. Without her suit, shes still skilled. Like gold medal Olympics gymnast level.’’ She told him; she watched his face fall.

‘’Oh.’’

‘’I would say shes on the same level as I am.’’ Natasha acknowledged with a frown. She didn’t like the idea of Peter rushing into fighting someone who could defeat her in an even fight. She barely tolerated the Black Cat as it was, the fact that the criminal hurt Peter already was a blaring warning sign for her to go hunt down the woman. However, she knew Peter wanted this for himself and she respected that. SHIELD would probably burn her ass for going after someone like Black Cat, she was below her pay grade, or so she was told.

‘’Wow. Okay. So, I’m basically going up against another Black Widow. That’s cool, totally cool.’’ He breathed. Not sure what to make of this newfound information.

‘’Maybe you can flirt with her, keep her distracted.’’ Wanda bantered, alleviating any tension she saw building up between her little brother and girlfriend from over thinking things. ‘’I know I would.’’

‘’Oh would you?’’ Natasha jumped up and tackled her girlfriend on to the floor, tickling the younger woman into submission. Wanda giggled and squatted Natasha’s hands away as best as she could.

‘’Peter give me a hand!’’ Wanda squealed when the spy hit a particularly sensitive spot.

Peter snorted but got up to help her anyways, wrestling and clinging onto the older woman’s back. The younger pair ganged up on her, ticking the spy until she screamed uncle. They kept going, sometimes switching who was going to be the tickle victim next.

The vigilante tried not to think about Felicia Hardy and her problems for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there we go, Felicia Hardy made her entrance. 
> 
> If you want a visualization of her, go by Marvel's Spider-man on PS4 depiction of her, but with the classic, fur trimmed suit and a bit younger since in the game shes around her mid-late 20's and in this fic shes 20-21.


	6. Not How It Was Supposed To Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter has another run in and nothing goes his way

A month later and Peter was ready to quit being Spider-man. Not because of his body or how tedious the job was but because of a certain Black Cat escaping his clutches every time they fought. The Black Cat was making more frequent appearances in New York, her favourite hits were local banks and every time she left with a small briefcase. Sadly, Ned had no luck backtracking where all of Black Cat’s tech come from, all they knew was that she used Oscorp’s outdated weapons and combined it with her own stolen ones.

She had this way of getting on his nerves, flirting while they traded punches. It drove Peter nuts but a part of him loved it, he loved the attention he was getting from her. Like a little push pull relationship forming between them.

Peter got better at fighting her, lasting longer every time they met, he had begged Natasha not to go easy on him during training and even asked Tony to let him train with Steve. Tony was obviously very nervous about letting his kid train with the guy who almost killed him in Siberia but told himself that it would keep Peter safer if he did. Steve was ecstatic to spar with someone other than Bucky and who could keep up with him.

However, no matter how skilled Peter got, the Black Cat always gained the upper hand. Until one day, Peter decided to test something hes been meaning to do since he learned of it but hadn’t because she ran away every single time, leaving him in the dust flustered and confused why he was so concerned about her.

Black Cat was about to make her escape again. Today she was wearing her hair down, her hair flowing majestically around her, and the teen tried not to get distracted by her beauty again. The last time he spent too much time gawking, he was met with a fist to the face.

Peter caught her by her wrist, pulling her back. ‘’Wait!’’

‘’Don’t you know you can’t touch a lady in such a way?’’ Black Cat twisted her body and wrapped her thighs around his neck, flipping them both and sent them tumbling to the ground. Luckily, Natasha had went over how to counter this specific move and this allowed Peter to pin the Black Cat by her wrists on the floor, knocking the briefcase away and pressed his weight over her.

‘’I said wait!’’ He could feel his face heat up from their position, he knew she was really flexible, but it was still surprising to him.

She bit her lip and tightened the grip she had around his neck. ‘’I know younger guys are desperate to get with older women, but I have places to be Spidey, get in line.’’

‘’Felicia Hardy.’’

The woman below him froze and wiped the smug smirk off her face.

‘’Thats your name, right?’’ Peter wigged his way out of her thigh grip, while still holding onto her, Peter’s strength was greater than hers.

‘’Mind telling me how you know that?’’ She inquired; her body stopped fighting against him, legs dropping from his shoulders.

‘’I’ll tell you if you tell me why you keep stealing those briefcases.’’ Her bartered. He glanced around him, they were lucky that they were in an alleyway, away from prying eyes.

‘’I steal them so I can sell them off to mob bosses for a high price. They have schedules of when the next money truck will be delivering. Now its your turn.’’

‘’The Black Widow.’’ He answered simply. She scoffed and leaned up into him, pressing her chest into his.

‘’Figures, she sells me out whenever I’m not of any use to her. How is she by the way? Is she still working for that rag tag group of superheroes?’’

Peter turned his face away; he could feel her panting into his ear. He was confused why she was always so sultry but figured it was part of an act to trick her opponents. Fortunately, Peter wasn’t a horn dog and saw past it.

‘’Shes still an Avenger.’’ He confirmed.

‘’Are you going to turn me in?’’ She purred; she wrapped her legs around his waist. Her expression faltered when she felt his hips and she suddenly realised something. ‘’You’re a-’’

Peter didn’t want to hear the end of it. It was so obvious to what she was about to say, and it made him sick.

Hes been found out.

He hated his hips more than ever.

This was the worst scenario he could find himself in. His heart races and it was getting harder for him to breath normally.

‘No! Not now!’ He thought.

Peter shoved her away from him, he panicked and this time he was the one to flee. He didn’t look back when she called for him. He webbed away, swinging as far as he could, launching into an empty warehouse he knew had been vacated for years. It was his favourite spot for when he panics attacks.

He crashed through the window, landing roughly onto the glass covered floor.

‘’Shit-‘’ He rolled and hit the wall with a thud. ‘’Fuck.Fuck.Fuck! I-I can’t breath-‘’ He gasped, curling into himself on his side. ‘’H-how did she know-‘’

Karen scanned his vitals and automatically released the binding mechanism, making it a lot easier for him inhale oxygen.

‘’Peter, would you like me to call Tony?’’

He shook his head. ‘’N-no, I-I’m fine!’’

Peter clenched his eyes shut. His senses were now dialled to 11 and he could practically feel every vibration within a mile’s radius. He could hear every conversation down in the streets, but they all blurred together, sometimes he would hear certain words he didn’t want to hear, forming sentences that were designed to upset him.

His suit felt so itchy, like he was wearing sandpaper. He ripped his mask away from his face, vaguely hearing Karen announcing she was calling Tony.

Peter was so out of it he didn’t hear someone join him through the window. He saw a pair of black heeled boots, Black Cat’s. He didn’t care that he no longer had his mask on, but he tried his best to dig his face into arms, shielding his face.

‘’I wasn’t going to judge you.’’ She says.

‘’I-its too bright, its too loud-‘’ He whimpers.

Felicia frowned and set the briefcase down gently and took her mask off. ‘’We’re even now, you can stop hiding.’’ She whispers, she reached out and caressed his head.

Peter looked up slowly, seeing her eyes without the tinted glass for the first time. She had slight makeup on, complimenting her tantalizing bright blue eyes. She was even prettier than Peter thought. With her face to distract him, his senses dialled down just enough for him to unfurl himself.

‘’W-why are you h-here?’’ He stammered, confused why she hadn’t high tailed out of there when she was free. Worried she might only be doing this to trick him, Black Cat always had other hidden agendas. This might’ve been one of them. He never really felt like a kid more than now. Aware that the lady he had been fighting was older, more experienced.

‘’I was curious.’’ She answered simply. ‘’Seeing you like this worried me.’’

‘’Why would you be worried about me? I-I’m basically trying to arrest you, this is your chance to get rid of me- You know what my face looks like now- M-my secret-‘’ He choked up. This was his worst nightmare. Peter now had someone who could hold several things over his head, someone who he had been trying to catch for a month.

Felicia folded her legs under her. ‘’Now why would I do that?’’

‘’Because-‘’

‘’I’m not interested in outing you. Believe it or not, I don’t go out of my way to make things harder for other people. I’m not a cold-hearted criminal.’’

Peter sat up and pressed the button on his web shooter, binding his chest before he uncrossed his arms. ‘’Why don’t you-‘’

She scoffed and smiled darkly. ‘’Join the good guys? Join the Avengers? Sorry but I’m not the type to dance in the spotlight and I like to work alone.’’

Peter swallowed the lump of nerves down his throat and focused on breathing normally.

‘’I’m sorry if I hurt you.’’

‘’You punched me in the face last week.’’ He joked half-heartedly.

She hummed, ‘’Yeah well, you groped me.’’

‘’It was on accident!’’

‘’Yeah, sure it was.’’ She pushed his shoulder gently. ‘’And its different type of hurt, what I did to you today. I had a friend who was like you, trapped in the wrong body. He had the same panic attacks, he used to call me in the middle of the night, begging me to help him.’’

‘’What happened to him?’’

Felicia pursed her lip and ran a hand through her messy hair. ‘’He killed himself. I found out that people were bullying him in his dorm at college, it got too much for him and he decided to end it. I wish I was there that night, but I was too busy robbing a bodega.’’ Her eyes flashed over with pain and regret.

‘’I’m sorry.’’ Peter said.

‘’Don’t be. It was my fault.’’ She sighed. ‘’I’m not a picture perfect, little princess but I’m not a transphobic criminal either. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.’’

Peter bit his lip and decided to do something that might get him killed, but he didn’t care because he had nothing to lose now. Everything was out.

And so, he launched into Felicia’s lap, starling the hell out of her, wrapping his arms around her neck. Thankfully, the cat caught him before he sent them both over and returned the hug.

‘’Well this is new.’’ Her hands splayed across his back.

‘’Thank you…’’ He mumbled into her shoulder. Not sure why he was hugging someone he was supposed to be arresting but she comforted him.

‘’Does this mean I can walk away with the briefcase?’’ She jested.

But before he could answer her, Ironman smashed through the building, firing up his repulsors and aimed it at the back of Felicia’s head.

‘’Let go of the kid.’’ His robotic voice warned her.

‘’T-tony! Please no!’’ Peter moved so he was in front of her, shielding her from the attack. ‘’Its not what it looks like! She was helping me!’’ He waved his hands about, confusing the older man.

‘’She knows who you are now kid, don’t you understand how much danger you’re in?’’

The Black Cat realised how much trouble she was going to be in and rolled away from Peter, grappling to the window and launching herself out, she put her mask on, giving one last look at Peter before disappearing.

‘’Wait here kid, I’m going to hunt her down.’’

‘’Stop!’’ He shot his webs at his mentor’s gauntlets and pulled just as Tony was about to fly after her. ‘’Stop! She didn’t do anything to me!’’

‘’Then why did Karen send me a panic alert?’’ Tony flipped his mask up, revealing a very concerned face. He glanced at the forgotten brief case and picked it up, he opened it and revealed it to Peter.

Peter looked and inside, it was completely empty. No manifests for the truck schedules, no memory stick, no nothing. ‘’W-what? Why-‘’

‘’Either she played you or she was just a distraction to draw you away from somewhere else.’’ Tony said. He handed Peter his mask and tossed the briefcase away. ‘’Meet me at the tower, we’re going to have a talk about you know what.’’

Peter nodded resigned.

…………..

When they were back at the tower, Tony laid into him.

‘’What were you thinking? How could you trust her? Shes the Black Cat, a _criminal_ who seduces and steals from the rich.’’ Tony scolded. He paced back and forth in front of Peter who was sat with his head down in his hands on the couch. ‘’What if she pulled a gun out and shot your head while you were busy fraternising with her. She could’ve killed you.’’ He snapped his fingers making Peter wince. ‘ _’Just like that_.’’

Peter pulled his knees in, hugging them close to his body.

‘Was she really just lying about her friend? Would she really stoop that low? Why was the briefcase empty? Did she pocket the USB before she came chasing after me? It doesn’t make sense-‘ A million questions running through his hyperactive mind.

Tony sighed and realised the kid wasn’t paying attention to him. He sat down next to him, wrapping an arm around Peter’s shoulders.

‘’Pete, what did she say to you?’’

Peter shrugged, ‘’That she wouldn’t out me.’’

‘’Do you want me to bring her in?’’

Peter shook his head. This was his fight and having Tony fight it for him felt like he was cheating. He didn’t train this hard to take down one woman just to give up because he ran into a setback. He was Spider-man. Spider-man never gave up.

‘’No, I’ll get her myself. I’m not going to make the same mistake.’’ He said. ‘’I don’t want to believe shes a bad person.’’

Tony went to protest but Peter cut in. ‘’I don’t want to believe it because she told me a sad story today. It sounded so genuine and she looked so upset.’’

‘’People can be great liars.’’ Tony said.

‘’I know.’’

‘’I don’t want you to get hurt like I did. Trusting someone and then getting stabbed in the back.’’

Peter cocked his head. ‘’Steve isn’t a criminal though.’’

‘’He was helping a criminal escape. He purposely hid the truth about my parents from me, he used my money to track down his brainwashed best friend and left me to die in a bunker.’’ Tony sighed and took off his tinted glasses. ‘’Sometimes it’s the people you least expect.’’

Peter knew Tony wasn’t over what happened, but he never knew how deep it ran. The spiderling never had any problems with the Captain, he barely knew what he was fighting for when he was scouted by his mentor. And then after he learnt about the accords in history class, he was torn. He agreed that the Avengers should be able to help anyone, anywhere, whenever it needed without needing to call up 20 different people for the green light. However, he knew that people needed someone to fault for. All the collateral damage, the victims, everything needed someone to blame.

He liked that the Avengers saved people no matter what, but he also hated the way they never took responsibility for all the grief they caused either. So, when Steve Rodgers wreaked havoc in several cities and infrastructures and never apologised for it either, his respect went down the drain until the moment he was pardoned and came back to the tower with his band of rogue Avengers, begging Tony and Rhodey to forgive him. Vision didn’t seem to be bothered other than the fact Wanda left him.

‘’I couldn’t track her, shes great at disappearing.’’ Natasha’s announcement snapped Peter out of his train of thought. ‘’Turns out there wasn’t a USB at that bank because the police pulled out all the manifests because she kept targeting them.’’

‘’So… Why was she there?’’ Tony turned to Natasha who was standing behind the couch, though her eyes were on a fellow spider.

‘’Peter. Most likely.’’

‘She was there for me?’ Peter thought.

Tony’s phone rang and he picked it up, Peter already knew he had to go to a meeting when he scowled and put his glasses back on.

‘’Nat keep an eye on him. Once I’m done talking with those hooligans at SHIELD, we’ll deal with Felicia Hardy.’’ And then he was gone.

Natasha took his place and turned on the TV, putting some random kid’s show on for some background noise.

‘’Mind telling me how you guys got to the warehouse?’’

‘’She found out I was trans. S-she-‘’ He paused but then remembered if he could trust anyone not to judge him, it would be his pseudo spider mom. ‘’She flirted with me while I was trying to hold her down and then she figured it out when she felt my waist.’’ His hands pulled his knees tighter against his chest.

Natasha kept her face passive and tugged at his hands so they would loosen their hold. ‘’Its nothing to be embarrassed about, Peter. I won’t tell Tony this but there are a few people who have earnt my respect and one of them is Felicia.’’

‘’Why?’’ He inquired.

‘’She knows how to keep a secret.’’ Natasha sighed and sagged into her seat. ‘’I’ve been in compromising positions over the last few years, some of them, Felicia was there for. And if SHIELD or the other Avengers knew what I did then. Let’s just say I would be in very big trouble.’’

They sat in silence, half-heartedly watching whatever was on the tv until they ordered food and Natasha helped Peter get the glass out of his suit and hair. The cuts on his face already healed. Sam stopped by the floor to say hello but quickly figured out, via Natasha’s glare, that Peter needed some time alone.

Turns out, Tony couldn’t make it back that night and the conversation about what Felicia Hardy was up to had to be delayed. Peter busied himself with homework instead, he had plenty to catch up with as he had been preoccupied trying to catch the Black Cat for the last few weeks.

However, every few minutes his mind wondered back to Felicia’s beauty. The pair of blue ocean eyes kept him distracted, so much it took him 3 whole hours to finish one paper of calculus. Embarrassing to say the least.

When Peter got back from the tower, back in the comfort of his own room and broken spring mattress, he took the time to really dig up possible reasons why Black Cat was fighting him with no information to steal and sell. It could be true that she was there as a distraction so he couldn’t go after some other criminal doing dirty deeds. But that didn’t make sense to him.

Felicia fought with him for at most 15 minutes each time. Peter made sure to have Karen keep an eye out for any disturbances in other spots of the city while he was busy fighting. Karen never reported anything back, at most, some bike thieves and the odd stalker. Nothing new. Nothing extraordinary.

So that begs the question why she was there at banks, 15 minutes to spare, every Tuesday or Thursday. Very precise. Knowing Peter would be there to ‘stop’ her do whatever she was pretending to do.

‘I have to find out. What if people are getting killed while I’m out frolicking with a hot criminal?’ He asked himself. He would never forgive himself.

…………..

‘’We can’t let her near him again, who knows what she could do to him while hes vulnerable!’’

‘’Well its not like Peter here would listen to that suggestion, the least we could do is stick with him on patrols.’’

‘’We can’t babysit him on every patrol! Ross will be on our ass, and then we’ll have to deal with his gorgeous ass and that’s a lot of asses to deal with Nat!’’

Peter watched the match between Natasha and Tony like it was a match of tennis. Both of them had valid points, both of them had Peter’s best interest in mind but dealt with different ways. Tony wanted to hunt down the cat to bring her in, keep her contained and at the bare minimum, if they couldn’t arrest her, keep her away. On the other hand, Natasha wanted to help Peter in capturing her, maybe even find out why the Black Cat was so obsessed with her favourite little brother.

Peter inwardly groaned and wished he was older, old enough to make his own decisions because apparently it wasn’t enough for the two adults in the room, Natasha was a bit more lenient.

‘’Guys, can you stop. For one sec.’’

They both turned to him.

‘’Underoos. You are not going to meet her again. Especially not alone! Shes a snake!’’ Tony exclaimed; his sunglasses slipped down his nose comically as he raised his hand. Peter fought hard to keep his face straight.

‘’He won’t be alone, because I’ll be right there. We just need to find out her motive, we could find something bigger, why she wants to fight with him. If she wanted data on Spiderman or if she knew Peter’s identity all along. We need those facts, Tony.’’ Natasha argued.

Peter slunk back into the couch even further. Hes glad May let him stay the night at the tower, he was exhausted just listening to the two.

‘’If the kid gets hurt, its on you.’’ Tony relents, groaning dramatically and stomping away back to his lab downstairs.

Peter watched his mentor disappear and turned his attention to Natasha who sipped on her cold black coffee, smug that she won another argument against the most stubborn man in the world.

‘’Do you really think this is a good idea?’’ Peter asks.

She shrugged. ‘’We won’t know unless we try. Plus, Black Cat _always_ has a motive, we need to know it before she can harm you or others.’’

‘’So, what do we do?’’

She smirked. ‘’Hide in plain sight.’’ 

**Author's Note:**

> As someone who is trans, I hope that I can really write and give justice to what Peter may feel as an FTM. Some of these will be from personal experiences and lmao, maybe its sort of a fix-it thing for me too.


End file.
